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Extra: Marilu Henner & "time traveling"

December 19, 2010 5:00 PM

Marilu Henner, who has what is called superior autobiographical memory, tells Lesley Stahl how she uses her extensive memory to "time travel" and recall moments of her childhood.

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by alkabee January 15, 2011 11:31 AM EST
Dear 60 minutes and Leslie Stahl,

I thoroughly enjoyed and was amazed by the wonderful show on people with autobiographical memory.

The one thing I missed was the lack of reference to anything about this strange condition in a historical or literary context, which would have added to the story.

In case you were not aware, I thought I would point out a beautiful and magical short story from 1944 "Funes, His Memory" by Jorge Luis Borges. We reread it alound after the show. You will be amazed at the descriptions of Funes' memory - sounds a lot like the descriptions from the people on your program!
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by vtwins21 January 11, 2011 11:00 AM EST
Dear 60 MInutes,

I have an eleven year old son who has the behaviors and abilities of the guest on this show. We realized this when he was four years old when he learned the calandar system. I believe it gave him a way to organize all his memories.

I have been aware of superior autobiographical memory for some time now.I am glad to see more people diagnosted and would like to know if any children have been diagnosted.

I would like to correspond with your guests. I have so many questions for them. Watching them is like watching my child. He is a twin . He is twin does not have this ability.

Kelly Vituszynski
Vtwins21@hotmail.com
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by Rob-L January 5, 2011 5:09 PM EST
Dear 60 Minutes,

Thank you for the videos about... what was it we were talking about?
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by pjpierce December 29, 2010 9:54 PM EST
Hi:

I had such a crush on Mary Lou on Taxi.

I became aware of my existance on May 25 1953 in my grandmothers living room at 128 Pacemont Road Columbus Ohio. I was wearing a long sleeve pastel colored shirt either pink blue yellow w/a bow tie cuff links, suspenders, short pants and high socks. The object I was admiring was a beautiful challace type object that is within 2 feet of where I sit now.

I can reconstruct what I was doing and where I was any day from then to this. The reason I can do this did not come to me naturally as I was in a car crash induced coma from 10-15-1967/11-5-1967.

I could not remember anything at that point and started to keep some kind of journal from then til now to help me remember and it has only been the past few years that I realize that I can reconstruct what I was doing and where I was on the birth day of most people I meet. During that time I some how rewired my memory and developed this ability.

I believe that all of us can do this if we spend the time to develop it.

I do have a super autobiographical memory and to be recognize as such has little signifigance for me. Although being the seventh person in the world to be has. I have a thing for sevens. A couple of examples:
On 10/15 there are 77 days left in the year. I was in a coma for 21 days 3 X 7. My # in football was 77 and in basketball it was 52, 5+2=7. And that object I reffered to as the first thing I can remember seeing in my life has 4 didjets onn the bottom that add up to 7.

I live near UCI in Orange County CA where they have an active memory research center. Is there anyone there who could give me a referal?

I remain,

Pj.
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by revndoc December 27, 2010 6:52 PM EST
Message to Scott Pelley and to Lesley Stahl, I know how they do it; I know how it is done! Lesley I thought you might have "seen" the pattern by now, since you interviewed both your friend Ms Henner and the savant pianist who happened not to be able to tie his shoes. He, Ms Henner, and Bluejay all have very important "mind" skills in common. I've studied the phenomenon for half a century now, every since I became aware of my own uniqueness at age 10. I just two days ago shot a video of my 9yr old grandaughter working a 63piece pattern puzzle while simultaneously reciting alternately the 7's multiplication tables and the 12's division tables. Her 7yr old brother can do the same with the 9's and 11's while working his puzzle on the back where there is no picture to follow. To understand how the brain does it, one must completely rethink what it means to "learn" a skill, the unusual mental gymnastics involved, and the special intellectual exercises that can prepare the attuned brain to generate such prodigical feats. Incidentally, this same common denominator accounts for, in the golf world, T. Woods' loss of previous high skill level following traumatic events, and for M. Wie's struggles since her spectacular skill displays at age 14. I have recently completed a position paper that illuminates in detail the actual location, in space, where I have come to believe the human mind actually exists. After a half century of observation, examination, and consultation, as a classroom teacher, university lecturer, academic advisor, pastoral counselor, and ER crisis counselor, I have concluded that our image filled minds are generated as complex mental holograms by our equally complex functioning brains. My sense is that the human mind is not to be found in the structure of the brain, but rather in its function. I suggest that the working brain is generating an energy stream which is projecting sensory images into a mental imaging chamber comprised of the structural energy of the magnetic field that surrounds each of our physical bodies. Prodigies, high-functioning autistics, and savants can "see" the brain generated energy stream as picture images, which are then decoded and redirected through the motor cortex to be enjoyed by the rest of us as command performances. Though we may view such feats as unusual, it is more likely that each of us has an extremely high level ability in some particular area. If we can just figure out which...or where...or how...
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by joshecht December 26, 2010 12:19 AM EST
I feel I exhibit some of the same characteristics that were described by these show's members--the ocd, the date recall, the compartmentalization, etc. I am also left-handed as many of the subjects were. What do I do if I want to be part of this study?
josh
jecht@kent.edu
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by drlonnie December 20, 2010 12:16 AM EST
Thank you for your enlightening story on super autobiographical memory.

This phenomenon has been described in a textbook. In 1950 L. Ron Hubbard wrote the book, Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health.

He described this super memory as what should be the normal state of man, but because of aberrations in the mind he named engrams, the vast majority of people cannot properly access their memories banks.

L Ron Hubbard spent the rest of his life researching how to and helping people de-aberrate their minds to reach a state of clear.

Dr Lonnie Holmquist
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by OPRGRLACE December 19, 2010 9:29 PM EST
Dear 60 Minutes,

Thanks for the wonderful story about the people with truly outstanding long-term memory. Your stories about the human mind are always fascinating.

I wonder if you would be interested in doing a program that would look at an equally fascinating story--one which also centers upon the structure and function of the brain as it relates to how we perceive ourselves at the most fundamental and also far-reaching levels?

I am sure that many people would be interested in the emerging science that is starting to explain how each of us comes to see himself or herself as one of a variety of genders, and how this fact influences the development of personality, career, language, and interpersonal relationships.

We are conditioned to think in terms of either male or female, but science is showing that there are many more ways in which people come to identify and explain who they are, and what they understand about themselves and others. This established dichotomy confounds our understanding of ourselves, and the nature of our interactions with others.

Further information may be received from a department within the School for Public Health, itself a part of the School of Medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The best email to use would be wpath@wpath.org.

If I may help further, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thank you again for tonights wonderful 60 Minutes program on how some people have absolutely astonishing memories, and what we may learn from them about our own minds and memories.
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