The Gift Of Endless Memory
The Gift of Endless Memory is called superior autobiographical memory. The powerfulness to recall nearly every twenty-four hours of one's life.
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| Marilu Henner |
Baca Juga
When she initiative of all started to endure from dementia, she even thence remembered that she wanted to purchase lottery tickets. The difference was she couldn't cry back that she had already bought the lottery tickets before inwards the day. So, she went as well as bought them again. And, again. Each day, she bought the same tickets, the same numbers, several times.
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As fourth dimension went on, fifty-fifty if I showed her the lottery tickets she bought before inwards the day, she wouldn't believe me. She would insist that nosotros needed to acquire as well as purchase the lottery tickets. She couldn't cry back nosotros bought the lottery tickets, thence it didn't brand whatever sense to her. She refused to believe nosotros bought the lottery tickets fifty-fifty when I showed them to her.
The 5 people described below -- never forget. They cry back almost all the days of their lives inwards detail.
I constitute myself laughing as well as grinning every bit I watched this segment on sixty Minutes. I felt happy as well as curious.
I idea to myself, volition this modify the way scientist persuasion Alzheimer's disease?
Is their a hidden fundamental inwards the brains of these 5 people? How do they cry back every twenty-four hours of their lives inwards detail. They say they consider it inwards their heads. The recall the twenty-four hours or the events every bit pictures inwards their head.
This seems similar the exact reverse of severe Alzheimer's disease.
What if?
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The Gift of Endless Memory, Video Part 1
The Gift of Endless Memory
It is often said that nosotros are our memories - that spider web of experiences, relationships, thoughts, as well as feelings that brand us who nosotros are. We don't cry back it all of course. That would endure impossible. Or would it?
There has been a regain inwards the acre of retentiveness recently, thence novel yous won't regain it inwards whatever textbook. It's thence hard to fathom, at that topographic point are some who stay unconvinced.
For the moment, the scientists studying it are but calling it "superior autobiographical memory." And unless yous remove house to know ane of the handful of people discovered thence far who have got it, acquire cook to endure amazed.
Louise Owen is 37 years former as well as a professional person violinist living inwards New York City. But she has some other gift too, ane that is far to a greater extent than rare.
When correspondent Lesley Stahl mentioned a date, Jan. 2, 1990, Owen told her, "Right now, I'm remembering the jogging storey that I started that morning."
"And you're genuinely dorsum there?" Stahl asked.
"I tin experience it. I tin cry back the charabanc saying, 'Keep going,'" Owen remembered.
That was to a greater extent than than 20 years ago, when she was 16, a engagement Stahl picked completely at random.
Stahl randomly picked some other date, Feb. 18, 1988.
"It was a Thursday. I had a large conversation amongst a friend of mine, as well as that's all I'm gonna say," Owen replied.
Owen told Stahl she tin cry back every twenty-four hours of her life since the historic menses of 11.
"Try to verbalize us through, tin yous do that, how…it works? Out of the air, Apr 21st, 1991," Stahl asked.
"1991, okay. Apr 21st. So, inwards the minute betwixt 'April 21st' as well as '1991,' I have got scrolled through 25 Apr 21sts, thinking, 'Which ane is it going to be? Which ane is it going to be?' Okay, 1991, which was a Sunday. And I was inwards Los Angeles, as well as I had a concert amongst the American Youth Symphony," Owen replied.
"You went to the most of import affair that happened that day," Stahl remarked.
"Right. That was the most, I mean, yous in all probability don't desire to remove heed about, yous know, sort of the daily 'Oh, I got upward inwards the morning. And I got dressed,'" Owen said.
Asked if she could cry back what she was having for lunch, Owen told Stahl, "Not what I had for luncheon that day. But I do cry back what I had for dinner the nighttime before."
"And effortless? It just pops in?" Stahl asked.
"Right," Owen said. "I mean, for me, it's almost every bit automatic every bit if yous say, 'What is your cry as well as where do yous live?'"
But how do nosotros know that what she says she remembers genuinely happened?
Enter medico James McGaugh, a professor of neurobiology at the University of California Irvine, as well as a renowned skilful on memory. medico McGaugh is the initiative of all to regain as well as study superior autobiographical memory, as well as he is quizzing Owen - his 5th bailiwick - to regain out.
"Let's displace dorsum inwards fourth dimension at nowadays to 1990. It rained on several days inwards Jan as well as February, tin yous cry the dates on which it rained?" McGaugh asked.
Believe it or not, she could.
"Let's see. It was slightly rainy as well as cloudy on Jan 14th, 15th. It was really hot the weekend of the 27th, 28th, no rain," she replied.
We checked the official atmospheric condition records as well as she was right. McGaugh says this type of retentiveness is completely novel to science. So he as well as his colleagues have got had to devise their ain tests, similar ane on world events.
When asked what happened on Oct. 19, 1987, Owen said, "It was a Monday. That was the twenty-four hours of the large stock marketplace crash, as well as the cellist Jacqueline du Pre died that day."
When asked on what twenty-four hours the Berlin Wall fell, Owen said, "November 9th, 1989, which was a Thursday."
She also correctly named the dates when Christopher Reeve had his riding accident (May 27, 1995), as well as the engagement of the 1999 Oscars (March 21).
"These people cry back things that yous as well as I couldn't maybe remember," McGaugh told Stahl.
"And they're non memorizing. There's no trick?" Stahl asked.
"They tin do amongst their memories what yous as well as I tin do almost yesterday," McGaugh said, "but, they tin do it every day."
"And when I ask, 'What goes on inwards your brain? What goes on inwards your mind,’ they give the really unsatisfying response, 'I just consider it. It's just there,'" he told Stahl.
The initiative of all individual ever identified amongst this powerfulness is Jill Price, who says she feels haunted yesteryear the never-ending stream of memories as well as hasn't wanted to run into whatever of the others.
Next was Brad Williams, a radio word anchor as well as reporter from La Crosse, Wis., who isn't bothered yesteryear his memory. He says it comes inwards handy at travel as well as playing trivia games.
The 3rd was Rick Baron, from Cleveland. He told Stahl he remembers every motion painting he has ever seen as well as also remembers when television receiver shows started, including "60 Minutes."
"Tuesday, September 24th, '68. The initiative of all Lord's Day present was September 19th '71," he explained.
Then at that topographic point is Bob Petrella, a TV producer as well as author who serves every bit the collective memory, as well as sometimes the even amusement for his friends.
"I must confess that when I initiative of all heard almost this research, what surprised me was non that this status existed, but that it was thence rare. That's because it sounded similar a description of a friend of mine, the actress Marilu Henner, a star of the hitting TV present 'Taxi'; She lives amongst her hubby as well as 2 sons from a prior union inwards Los Angeles," Stahl said.
Stahl as well as Henner have got known each other 25 years. "I tin rattle off almost every unmarried fourth dimension I've seen you," Henner said.
"Do yous cry back when nosotros went to 'Aureole,' the restaurant? That was '93," Henner said. "That was June 1st. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Tuesday."
Asked what they ate, Henner said, "I had the salmon."
Henner fifty-fifty remembers what twenty-four hours she got many of the shoes inwards her large as well as well-organized closet. "Like these shoes, I wore them Oct the initiative of all time, I wore them Oct 18th, 2007," she said, pulling out a pair.
"These I wore on Apr the 21st (referring to 2009). So that was a Tuesday," she said, pulling out another.
To Stahl, it sure seemed similar superior autobiographical memory.
We position Henner inwards deport upon amongst McGaugh to have got her retentiveness officially position to the test. There was a session inwards his office, where she went through a circular of touchstone retentiveness tests, as well as the world events quiz.
After 7 hours of grilling, McGaugh as well as his collaborator, neuroscientist medico Larry Cahill, officially anointed Henner superior autobiographical retentiveness bailiwick position out six.
"You genuinely do cry back your whole life," Stahl remarked.
"It's similar putting inwards a DVD as well as it cues upward to a sure place. I'm at that topographic point again. So, I'm looking out from my eyes as well as seeing things visually every bit I would have got that day," she replied.
"Do yous cry back all your former boyfriend's birthdays? I'll bet yous do," Stahl asked.
"Oh, yeah. Not exclusively that, the engagement of the initiative of all time, yous know. It's like…in order," she replied, laughing.
We searched for footage of long-ago events inwards Henner's life to attempt as well as stump her.
Asked what happened on Oct. 26, 1976, Henner said, "1976 was a Tuesday. Oh, I went to shoot a band around the neckband commercial inwards Venice, Italy."
"That's it," Stahl said.
"And yous saw a 2d as well as a one-half mood shot of Venice as well as thence a gondolier singing, 'Of Love I Sing, tra-la-la-la, for yous got band around the coll-la-la.' And I went, 'My pulverization didn't work,'" Henner added.
More than thirty years later, her recollection of the commercial is dead on.
"What do yous consider every bit the potential inwards price of science?" Stahl asked McGaugh.
"It could endure a novel chapter. We think nosotros knew a lot as well as all of a sudden, these people come upward as well as display a sort of retentiveness we've never seen before, as well as nosotros have got to say, 'Woo, what is that about?' So we're going to accept a facial expression as well as consider if nosotros tin figure that out. And it could endure really important," he replied.
One affair McGaugh had non yet done is convey these retentiveness wizards together, thence nosotros did as well as he kicked off a questioning session different whatever other.
When he asked the grouping when a 7.1 earthquake hitting the San Francisco-Oakland area, all replied, "October 17th, 1989."
"Are yous guys feeling a piddling competitive amongst each other?" Stahl asked.
"No," Brad Williams said.
"Well, I desire to brand sure that I'm non the dunce here. I gotta travel on up," Bob Petrella joked.
"When they tell yous they know, are they ever correct?" Stahl asked neuroscientist medico Larry Cahill.
"I would say over 99 per centum of the time, if non 100 per centum of the time, if they tell yous something as well as yous tin banking concern check it, they're right. I've almost given upward looking now, because ok, they're right," he replied.
The grouping seemed to savor the chance, finally, to compare notes.
"Do yous guys ever acquire ticked at someone, it's something yous consider monumental as well as for them it's monumental. And thence yous convey it upward as well as they go, 'Well, I don't cry back that'? It's similar 'How tin yous forget that?'" Petrella asked.
"All the time," Owen replied.
"You know what I love? I dearest when people acquire thence flattered, Like they go, 'Wow, I must've genuinely made an impression on you.' And I go, 'No, no, believe me - I cry back everything,'" Henner added.
When Stahl asked if this talent ever freaks someone out, Petrella said, "People misunderstand it a lot of times. They think it's photographic. They think it's autistic. …call yous 'Rain Man.'"
"And I'll just acquire along amongst that. 'Yeah, yeah. Definitely Friday.' You know, materials similar that," he joked.
It was a query nosotros had: are they autistic?
Stahl asked Cahill if this grouping is anything similar savants. "I approximate the respond is yes as well as no. They're non people who have got an extraordinary ability, but can't necktie their shoe. And that's constituent of what, I think, makes this at to the lowest degree thence interesting for me, is that yous have got this genuinely remarkable powerfulness inwards a individual who is otherwise pretty darn normal," he replied.
But what just does "normal" mean, when yous cry back every twenty-four hours of your life? When everything goodness - as well as everything bad - that has ever happened to yous is right there, instantly accessible?
"When yous facial expression dorsum at painful memories, is it just every bit raw?" Stahl asked.
"Sometimes it'll endure every bit though it happened yesterday. Sometimes, it's every bit though it happened in conclusion week," Owen said.
Just the advert of a lamentable day, similar the ane inwards 1986 when Owen learned she'd have got to modify schools , as well as she relives it emotionally. "I felt similar my whole world was collapsing. And yous say that as well as it's similar of a abrupt I experience similar this genuinely heartbroken piddling 13-year-old all over again," she explained.
She said the feeling was bright as well as awful, fifty-fifty after all these years. "I mean, my pump is genuinely pounding right at nowadays inwards telling yous this," she told Stahl.
She says her retentiveness is a gift, but at that topographic point are definitely downsides.
"Sometimes, having this sort of extreme retentiveness tin endure a really isolating sort of thing. There are times when I experience similar I'm fluent inwards a linguistic communication that nobody else speaks. Or that I'm walking around as well as everybody else has amnesia," Owen explained.
"Are at that topographic point even thence skeptics inwards your acre who know what you're upward to as well as just…," Stahl asked McGaugh.
"Science is based on skepticism. And so, yes, at that topographic point are skeptics. I suppose if I had non met these people as well as tested them, I would endure a skeptic. My respond to that is, come upward on over for a day. I'll allow yous run into a few of 'em. And I'd similar to consider how many of them walk away as well as say, 'Well, it's non a large deal.' No, 'It is a large deal. And nosotros demand to figure out what it's all about,'" McGaugh replied.
And that travel is already underway: McGaugh is doing MRI scans of all the subjects, searching for clues that powerfulness endure hidden inwards the construction of their brains.
Preliminary results from the MRIs are in, as well as the findings are tantalizing as well as unexpected.
Beyond the fun of quest what happened on a specific engagement as well as knowing you'll genuinely acquire an answer, at that topographic point is a lot at stake here. The regain of people amongst instant access to virtually every twenty-four hours of their lives could recast our whole agreement of how human retentiveness works, as well as what is possible. And that has implications for all of us.
Is it possible nosotros all have got memories of every twenty-four hours tucked away inwards our brains, but nosotros just can't retrieve them? Could agreement these remarkable people someday assist amongst Alzheimer's as well as other retentiveness disorders?
Scientists tell us the potential is enormous, but the enquiry is just beginning. The initiative of all footstep is to facial expression at, as well as attempt to figure out what powerfulness endure going on within their brains.
We watched every bit the initiative of all MRI images of Louise Owen's encephalon appeared on the screen. The promise is that somewhere inwards these pictures as well as measurements volition prevarication the initiative of all clue that powerfulness explicate what makes her retentiveness thence extraordinary.
Asked what he expected to regain as well as what he genuinely discovered, Cahill told Stahl, "Well, if yous desire the honest truth, the honest truth is that I thought, I bet we'll regain nothing. I mean, it's kinda similar figuring that, yous know, if yous opened upward Einstein's brain, there's gonna endure some huge lobe that says 'genius.' You know, yous don't regain materials similar that."
But Cahill was wrong: at that topographic point were no flashing 'genius lobes,' but they did regain parts of the encephalon that were significantly larger inwards the people amongst superior autobiographical retentiveness than inwards command subjects of matched historic menses as well as gender.
He brought along a model of a encephalon to present us.
"There's 2 areas that are jumping out at us. The initiative of all is this expanse called the temporal lobe. And this expanse is quite a chip bigger. Now that's intriguing because this is the chunk of encephalon neurobiologists think has to do amongst storing novel memories," he explained.
Cahill said this was non a surprise.
More interesting, he says, is a 2d share deep within the encephalon called the "caudate nucleus," which scientists believe is involved inwards what's called habit, or science learning - as well as also inwards obsessive compulsive disorder.
"Can yous give us an analogy of how much larger these sections are?" Stahl asked.
"A lot larger, perhaps upward to 7 or 8 what's called touchstone deviations larger than normal. To sympathize what that means, if a human being was 7 or 8 touchstone deviations taller than the summit of the average man, he'd endure 10 feet tall. So nosotros have got some potentially whopping effects," he explained.
Now they demand to figure out why.
"We have got the chicken/egg problem. Do they have got these larger encephalon regions because they have got exercised it a lot? Or do they have got goodness memories…because these are larger?" McGaugh explained.
And what almost the fact that the caudate nucleus is idea to endure involved inwards obsessive compulsive disorder? The scientists think at that topographic point may just endure a hint there.
And exhibit Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 is Marilu Henner's closet. "I dearest organization," she told Stahl spell touring her closet. "I similar my shoes a sure way, right pes going this way, left pes going that way, thence yous tin ever consider the toe as well as the heel on every pair. And you'll consider that things are really color coordinated here, but inwards sections. And I ever hang similar amongst like. And I have got the exact same hangers, because thence everything slides to a greater extent than easily."
"All of them have got what nosotros think of, what nosotros depict every bit OCD-like behaviors. They dearest to collect things. They have got to have got things inwards just the right order," Cahill said.
What almost phobias?" McGaugh asked the grouping assembled yesteryear "60 Minutes."
"Does hypochondria count? It's like, 'Oh, I promise I don't acquire this. I promise I don't acquire that disease,'" Brad Williams asked.
Asked if he has a affair almost germs, he told Stahl, "I launder hands frequently."
"So do I. In fact, I dropped my keys when I was inwards a hurry drivin' downward here. And I went, alright, thence I went dorsum inwards as well as I, like, ram I washed 'em off," Bob Petrella added.
"Can yous conclude there's a connection? Or is it even thence way besides early?" Stahl asked Cahill.
"Because it's showing upward inwards ane fashion or some other inwards all of them, I'd say it's our biggest clue," he replied.
And when yous think almost it, they fifty-fifty seem to facial expression for ways to organize their memories.
"The affair that is most pleasurable is categorizing whatever event. Anytime I went bowling inwards my life, whatever wedding," Rick Baron said.
He told Stahl he started that when he was half-dozen years old.
"Sometimes what I do is, I'll acquire dorsum July 14th every bit far dorsum every bit I tin remember, I'll just acquire July 14th, '67, that happened. And then, maybe I won't cry back '68, but I'll cry back '69 as well as '70," Petrella said, amongst others nodding.
Louise Owen fifty-fifty compares dates. "I'll scroll all the way dorsum to 1985. I'll endure like, 'Well, which were better, March thirds or March fourths a yr ago? Two years ago? Three years ago?' And acquire all the way back. It's sort of similar mental gymnastics," she explained, laughing.
There is a sure irony to the fact that it is McGaugh who is studying this phenomenon, because he is known inwards the acre of retentiveness for discoveries these people seem to defy.
His travel amongst rats, similar ane that doesn't know at that topographic point is a platform hidden below the surface of a H2O tank, proved the purpose of adrenaline inwards making strong memories. The rat swims around the edge, thence eventually ventures out as well as yesteryear run a hazard bumps into the platform. The side yesteryear side twenty-four hours he'll regain it just a piddling chip faster.
But some other rat, that learned where the platform was the twenty-four hours before, thence received a shot of adrenaline instantly afterward; the rat instantly swam to the platform.
Adrenaline genuinely made this rat's encephalon cry back better, as well as McGaugh says the same affair happens inwards people - when nosotros experience something emotional, positive or negative, our bodies liberate adrenaline, searing those memories into our brains to a greater extent than strongly.
"What tin yous as well as I do, right now, to brand sure nosotros cry back this conversation?" Stahl asked. "I could kicking you."
"Yeah," McGaugh replied, laughing. "Or I could embarrass you."
"Most of my research is amongst laboratory rats. And suppose I said, all of a sudden, 'Oh, as well as I'm gonna demonstrate to you.' And I driblet almost half-dozen rats right at your feet," he added.
"I'd remember. Believe me, I'd remember," she replied.
But people similar Louise Owen don't demand such events to cry back things.
And that's what's thence baffling: these people do cry back the ordinary, non-emotional events the ease of us routinely forget. Lots of sports fans tin cry back highlights from peculiarly exciting games.
Bob Petrella, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, remembers every game.
"When was the in conclusion fourth dimension the Redskins vanquish the Steelers?" Stahl asked.
"Let's see. They played 'em inwards 2004, as well as the Steelers won. They played 'em inwards 2000… ," he said.
We sat at that topographic point every bit he scanned dorsum through nineteen seasons inwards nineteen seconds. His terminal answer: Nov. 17, 1991.
We tried fifty-fifty farther back.
"What were the in conclusion 2 games inwards Oct of 1979?" Stahl asked.
"Let's see. The 22nd they played Denver on Mon night. And I think they won 42 to seven," he replied. "They played, oh, thence they played Dallas on Oct 28th, Sunday. It was on CBS, thence yous could acquire that game."
And 31 years later, he was able to depict plays.
"Staubach was scrambling, as well as LC Greenwood just slammed right into 'im. It was inwards the 4th quarter," he remembered.
He fifty-fifty remembered specific images from the broadcast. "I cry back Staubach just sittin' on the bench. You could just tell he was out of it," he told Stahl.
When Stahl tried to play a joke on him yesteryear quest almost a game on Nov. 11, 1990, Petrella caught it instantly - the squad didn't play that day.
But he did cry back the day. "I was depressed. I had broken upward amongst this woman, as well as I was going out to rent a twosome videos. And I was thinking almost her," he said.
"There's a quote that I love. It's yesteryear the nifty psychologist William James. He said, 'If nosotros remembered everything, nosotros should, on most occasions, endure every bit sick off every bit if nosotros remembered nothing,'" Cahill said.
And that's what the acre of retentiveness has ever considered a given: that a salubrious dose of forgetting is crucial to our powerfulness to think.
"You abstract as well as generalize inwards constituent because yous forget. When yous have got a trip to travel as well as yous have got the same trip every day, yous abstract as well as yous generalize a typical trip to travel because yous don't cry back every unmarried item of every unmarried trip. So a piddling forgetting is needed to assist yous abstract as well as generalize," Cahill explained.
"Well, that's what I ever idea until I met your 5 subjects today," Stahl replied.
"Do yous ever acquire the feeling that all these memories are cluttering upward your mind, that it's just besides much upward there, as well as I demand to sweep this away?" Stahl asked Henner.
"It's organized, yous know what I mean? It's organized, thence it's called on when yous demand it, but it's non similar they're coming inwards all the time," she said.
Bob Petrella added, "It's non overwhelming."
"Surprising affair is that these people don't appear to have got cluttered brains. They tin push clit out the right data at the right time, as well as that's the puzzle," McGaugh said.
"It sort of takes everything we've all assumed, scientists as well as ordinary people as well as said, 'Come on guys. Rethink it,'" Stahl remarked.
"Yeah, got to do some rethinking, but that's fun. That's constituent of the fun constituent of science," he replied.
And they're pursuing every avenue they can: deoxyribonucleic acid testing, to consider if at that topographic point are differences inwards their genetic makeup; handedness testing, since all iii men are lefties, to consider if that yields whatever clues. The enquiry is just getting started, amongst half-dozen willing subjects eager to consider where it all volition lead.
And who knows how many to a greater extent than are even thence out there.
"I've ever loved having this memory. I experience every bit an actress as well as every bit a writer, it's been indispensable. As a mother, every bit a married adult woman certainly," Henner said.
Asked why she said that, Henner told Stahl, "Oh my gosh. No, 'cause yous tin never lose an argument. No, yous didn't say that, I said this, yous know, yous said this."
"Yeah, but maybe he doesn't similar it thence much," Stahl pointed out.
"No, I know. Yeah, well, that's in all probability why I'm on my third," Henner replied.
Which raises a existent query since Henner is the exclusively ane of the half-dozen subjects who is married or has children.
Louise Owen told Stahl romance tin endure tricky as well as that breakups are horrible.
"I regain it intriguing, that iv out of 5 of yous are non married. And every bit far every bit I'm aware, are non inwards a relationship. Do yous all think there's a work having this retentiveness as well as having a goodness relationship?" Stahl asked the group.
"I similar to think it's coincidence," Brad Williams said.
"You're going to cry back everything? You're gonna win every…argument?" Stahl asked.
"Although, I think it's what yous do amongst it. I mean, I attempt non to endure defined yesteryear this," Owen said.
And she says for the most part, she succeeds.
When asked if her extreme retentiveness is a goodness affair as well as if she's glad she has it, Owen said, "I am. I mean, sure, at that topographic point are times when it's difficult. But I experience similar it makes me alive my life amongst thence much to a greater extent than intention as well as thence much to a greater extent than joy."
Asked what she agency yesteryear "more intention," Owen said, "Because I know that I'm gonna cry back whatever happens today, it's like, all right, what tin I do to brand today significant? What tin I do that is gonna brand today stand upward out?"
"As yous spotter these remarkable people, as well as every bit yous think dorsum on say my iii children, how piddling I tin genuinely cry back from when they were four, five, six. You start to wonder, why are nosotros the default state? Why are nosotros normal as well as they're the odd ones? Why didn't nosotros evolve such that most of us are similar them as well as we're the odd ones, the people who tin hardly cry back anything? It just makes yous wonder," Cahill said.
Cahill as well as McGaugh have got at nowadays begun the side yesteryear side stage of testing as well as they have got some novel brains to facial expression at: they think they've discovered endless retentiveness subjects seven, eight, as well as nine.
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