Understanding the gift of endless memory

"What about phobias?" McGaugh asked the group assembled by "60 Minutes."

"Does hypochondria count? It's like, 'Oh, I hope I don't get this. I hope I don't get that disease,'" Brad Williams asked.

Asked if he has a thing about germs, he told Stahl, "I wash hands frequently."

"So do I. In fact, I dropped my keys when I was in a hurry drivin' down here. And I went, alright, so I went back in and I, like, ram I washed 'em off," Bob Petrella added.

"Can you conclude there's a connection? Or is it still way too early?" Stahl asked Cahill.

"Because it's showing up in one fashion or another in all of them, I'd say it's our biggest clue," he replied.

And when you think about it, they even seem to look for ways to organize their memories.

"The thing that is most pleasurable is categorizing any event. Anytime I went bowling in my life, any wedding," Rick Baron said.

He told Stahl he started that when he was six years old.

"Sometimes what I do is, I'll go back July 14th as far back as I can remember, I'll just go July 14th, '67, that happened. And then, maybe I won't remember '68, but I'll remember '69 and '70," Petrella said, with others nodding.

Louise Owen even compares dates. "I'll scroll all the way back to 1985. I'll be like, 'Well, which were better, March thirds or March fourths a year ago? Two years ago? Three years ago?' And go all the way back. It's sort of like mental gymnastics," she explained, laughing.

There is a certain irony to the fact that it is McGaugh who is studying this phenomenon, because he is known in the field of memory for discoveries these people seem to defy.

His work with rats, like one that doesn't know there is a platform hidden below the surface of a water tank, proved the role of adrenaline in making strong memories. The rat swims around the edge, then eventually ventures out and by chance bumps into the platform. The next day he'll find it just a little bit faster.

But another rat, that learned where the platform was the day before, then received a shot of adrenaline immediately afterward; the rat immediately swam to the platform.

Adrenaline actually made this rat's brain remember better, and McGaugh says the same thing happens in people - when we experience something emotional, positive or negative, our bodies release adrenaline, searing those memories into our brains more strongly.

"What can you and I do, right now, to make sure we remember this conversation?" Stahl asked. "I could kick you."

"Yeah," McGaugh replied, laughing. "Or I could embarrass you."

"Most of my research is with laboratory rats. And suppose I said, all of a sudden, 'Oh, and I'm gonna demonstrate to you.' And I drop about six rats right at your feet," he added.

"I'd remember. Believe me, I'd remember," she replied.

But people like Louise Owen don't need such events to remember things.

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[nhr53]

Simply facinating. I would want to know how good is their "dream memory" recall is?

[jimoerike]

Dream memory would in fact give a person a choice to be here or there, I'd at this state of my life would choose there if it was discovery I was into looking for the memory of knowing your having a dream yet not to be pulled from it & to have endless powers over the negatives in your life would be break through.

[lulujubie]

I found this story fascinating and had a student on my special needs school bus who was a high functioning austistic person with this gift. I am not so gifted, but have recall of my childhood back to approximately 16 months of age. I believe that this excellent recall of most of my childhood could in fact have something to do with traumas and upheavels suffered over a 4 year period of my childhood between age 10 and 14. I lost my entire nuclear family between age 11 and 13. I always thought others could remember their childhood on an day to day basis the way I could, but have learned since this is not the case with most people. I now wonder if the traumas some of which resulted in my family's deaths had to do with this. I had very ritualistic behaviour in childhood I do not have now and I also have wondered if I retained these memories so completely as there was no one to remember my childhood for me as most parents will do for children and so my mind knew it had to retain these for me. The memory and how the mind controls it is such an interesting subject.

[babooph]

I still remember too much of High School..

[Floretta52]

Dr James McGaugh
Phone: [phone], 5250
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

University of California, Irvine
334 QRL
Mail Code: 3800
Irvine, CA 92697-380

[bfgking]

Our father who passed 6 years ago at the age of 93 had this type of memory. Over the years he would comment on something that had happened in the past and would recite the day, date, place, and sometimes the time. We always thought it was amazing but didn't realize it was a gift and didn't encourage it. He was quite a remarkable man. WV

[bfgking]

Our father who passed 6 years ago at the age of 93 had this type of memory. Over the years he would comment on something that had happened in the past and would recite the day, date, place, and sometimes the time. We always thought it was amazing but didn't realize it was a gift and didn't encourage it. He was quite a remarkable man. WV

[remant]

I can understand being able to remember what happened on certain days, but how many ppl ever know exactly what the date is? These ppl knew it in every case. They must keep diaries or calendars pasted on their refrigerator doors. I'd like to know why the investigators or Ms Stahl didn't find that odd. For the rest I'd say they do not organize things conceptually, according to a philosophy, or rule. They are particularists. The organization no doubt takes the place of concepts without which they couldn't function. The comment that they simply "see" things is I think very suggestive.

[majesticmini]

I agree with both of you. My father was the same way. I thought he had Aspergers as I somewhat followed. He could master Jeopardy, explain history and science for a long time, and acted professionally. We don't know what the cause is, as Autism/Aspergers or OCD, but a use is to exercise an journal.

[skeezix06]

After seeing this story I am grateful for my forgetfulness for the first time in my life.

[fronbauer]

I teach philosophy. I found this program on superior autobiographical memory most interesting. William James wrote that memory is a mystery. The experience of these people just deepens it. But, it is still important to be reminded that correlation is not causality. Adding one more correlation will not help to dispel the mystery for anyone who has not understood he mind-brain relation. Otherwise, Dr.Cahill's prediction that the MRI research wouldn't lead to any new discoveries may have been more right than even he realized. Or did he realize it?

Fred Bauer, Worcester, MASS