Superior Autobiographical Memory

If you walked around anywhere in the world and ask just any random person the question, is it possible to remember every day in your life, in detail??? What answer do you think you would get??? No right? Truth is it is possible, not only is it possible but there is people out in the world with this unrealistic ability. To be exact there are 6 known cases in America of this, what doctors call Superior Autobiographical Memory, and Lesley Stahl from 60 minute did a story on 5 of these 6 people. It's a ability that so rare, you won't find it in any text book, or read it of a poster or pictogram in any doctor's office. Let's think about this for a second, How nice would it be to remember every detail of everyday of our life?? According to these people, it definitely a gift they don't mind having, but it's not always a good thing, because not only do you remember everything good, you also remember everything that wasn't so good. Is this real??? I'm quite sure there are many skeptics out there, before I watched the 60 minutes story in full, I was a skeptic, even during it, It's the amazing in my opinion. These people remember everything from a sporting events, to break ups with every boy or girlfriend, to world rocker dates in history books. If you asked me yesterday what was the date John F. Kennedy Jr died, I couldn't tell you the year or how. Louise Owens one of the people covered on 60 minutes, not only was she able to remember July 16, 1999 was the day Kennedy Jr died in a plane crash, Owen can also recall: "It was also the day 'The Iceman Cometh' closed on Broadway. I remember trying to get a rush ticket for the final performance."Owen can also recall: "It was also the day 'The Iceman Cometh' closed on Broadway. I remember trying to get a rush ticket for the final performance." Louis Owens who is 37 years old, remember a day 24 years ago when she was 13 and had to change schools, she remembered it so well that all the emotions she had came back as well, and even at 37 years old she still cried just as she did at 13. January 2, 1990 he was able to remember the 1st day of a jogging class she started that morning, so much in detail she remember the coaching telling her keep going don't stop. You want one better??? Louise Owens was asked in 1990 it rained several days where you lived, can you name them? Sure enough Owens answered "Let's see, it was slightly rainy and cloudy on January 14, 15. It was very hot the weekend of THE 27th, 28th-- NO RAIN. It rained very hard on Sunday, February 4. After pulling weather record on all them days she was correct on every one of them. So what do doctors say about this??? Surprisingly there is only one doctor who actually discovered and study this matter and that is doctor James McGaugh, a professor of neurobiology at the university of California, Irvine, and a renowned expert on memory. " These people remember things that you and I couldn't possibly remember There's no tricks to it." Dr. McGaugh saids, "They can do with their memories what you and I can do about yesterday." I'm no Dr. McGaugh or neurologist but to understand this more, you have to know how are memories works, the events in our life that brings about the most emotions is typically the ones we can really remember, like losing a love one, the date of 9/11, first born child, and etc, as Dr. McGaugh support this by saying "Adrenaline makes are mind remember better. When we experience something emotional, positive or negative, our bodies release adrenine, searing those memories into our brains more strongly." So what effects in science could this new discovery have Dr. McGaugh think it can be a new chapter. Scientists tell us the potential is enormous, but the inquiry is just beginning. Marilu Hanner famous actress from the old show 'Taxi' is one of the 6 known case who was also on 60 minutes and is a real good friend of Lesley Stahl. Marilu Hanner was able to recall 18 years ago where her and Lesley Stahl meet up and had lunch, exactly the day of the week it was, and even What they had to eat. "It's like putting in a DVD and it cues up to certain places," Henner said. "I am there again . . . seeing things visually as I would have that day. Henner even have the ability to remember when she got every pair of shoes she own, and the first time she wore each pair. For what it's worth out of the 6 cases the 3 men are all left handers, and what else do they have in common. Scientist say all these people they love to collect things, they have to have things in the in just the right order. What makes these people memory so much different from what we would call 'normal' people memory is, remember that adrenaline we talked about earlier that makes us think better, these people don't need that, they can remember ordinary things, and non-emotional events the rest of us routinely forget. Sports fan remember special games, and special highlights that changed a game, or a sport. thing that rock the sports world. Bob petrella who is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and one of the handful with this gift can remember every game. He was able to go back 19 season to recall the last time the Washington Redskins beat the Steelers, he was even able to remember, the NFL week and date of the Steelers bye week in 1991. When asked what was the last 2 games Steelers played in '79, Petrella answer " The 22nd, They Played DENVER ON Monday night, and I think they won 42 to seven, oh then they played Dallas on October 28, Sunday it was on cbs. Believe it or not he was even able to remember plays, "Staubach was greenwood just slammed right into him, it was in the 4th quarter. I remember staubach just sitting on the bench, you could tell he was out of it." Man that amazing, the question I have for you is, would you like to possess this ability, skill, or way of life. To me, remembering everything can't be good, think about it, if we remembered everything, will there be a such thing as thinking? Since thinking is a way of exercising the brain, and helping the brain grow would that be a good ability to have? What kind of effect would it have on the mind? Well these people say it something they thankful for, and enjoyed having. What about you????