Hyperthymesia or hyperthymestic syndrome is a condition where the affected individual has a superior autobiographical memory. As first described in the Neurocase article "A case of unusual autobiographical remembering," the two defining characteristics of hyperthymesia are "1) the person spends an abnormally large amount of time thinking about his or her personal past, and 2) the person has an extraordinary capacity to recall specific events from their personal past".^[1] For other uses, see Memory (disambiguation). ...

Capabilities

Individuals with hyperthymesia are able to recall events they have personally experienced. A hyperthymestic person can be asked a date, and describe the events that occurred that day, what the weather was like, and many seemingly trivial details that most people would not be able to recall. They often can recall what day of the week the date fell on, but are not calendrical calculators as people with autism sometimes are; the recall is limited to days on a personal "mental calendar".^[1] The mental calendar association occurs automatically and obsessively. Unlike some other individuals with superior memory, hyperthymestic individuals do not rely on practiced mnemonic strategies. Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior, all exhibited before a child is three years old. ... For other uses, see Mnemonic (disambiguation). ...

Cases

Three cases of hyperthymesia have been confirmed.^[2][3] Researchers from University of California, Irvine, Elizabeth Parker, Larry Cahill and James McGaugh have studied the condition in a woman identified only by initials "AJ" (who revealed her identity as Jill Price, of Los Angeles, in a book published May 9, 2008 ^[4]), whose memory they characterize as "nonstop, uncontrollable, and automatic".^[1] AJ became aware of her detailed memory in 1978, when she was 12, and from 1980 on she apparently can recall every day. The University of California, Irvine is a public coeducational research university situated in Irvine, California. ... James L. McGaugh, Ph. ...

After the study was published in 2006 in journal Neurocase, more people came forward claiming that they had this ability. So far two other cases are considered to be genuine: a Wisconsin man named Brad Williams^[5][6][7][8], and Rick Baron^[9] of Ohio. Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

A similar condition was documented by the Russian psychologist Aleksandr Luria whose book, The Mind of a Mnemonist: A Little Book About A Vast Memory, documented the case of a young Russian man by the name of Shereshevski who could forget only by an act of will. Shereshevski, AKA 'S.' in the classic style of case studies, reportedly had trouble analysing his memories and making sense of their content in retrospect. This does not apparently plague Jill Price and her cohort, though the basic inability to engage in what is commonly called 'ordinary forgetting'--whereby experiences or propositions that are not recalled or connected to other events fail to be stored in long-term memory even though they were initially encoded--is clearly held in common. Luria's work was influential for a number of psychologists and theorists in memory, most famously Oliver Sacks. The title Mnemonist (derived from the term Mnemonic) refers to an individual with the ability to remember and recall unusually long lists of data, for example: unfamiliar names, lists of numbers, entries in books, etc. ...

See also

• Eidetic memory
• Savant syndrome
• Daniel McCartney
• Funes the Memorious, a short story by Jorge Luis Borges
• Marilu Henner

Eidetic memory, photographic memory, or total recall is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme accuracy and in abundant volume. ... A person with profound disabilities in most areas and a notable ability in at least one other area. ... Daniel was born in Westmoreland Co. ... Funes the Memorious (original Spanish title, Funes el memorioso) is a fantasy short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. ... Marilu Henner (born April 6, 1952) is an American actress and producer. ...

References

This article has been illustrated as part of WikiProject WikiWorld.