Can you remember the exact days when it rained in January and February of 2012? A person with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) would likely say “yes.” Scientists are debating why.
People with this rare phenomenon have “an extraordinary capacity to recall specific events from their personal past,” according to “A Case of Unusual Autobiographical Remembering” published in Neurocase in 2006. They also spend an excessive amount of time thinking about occurrences from the past. HSAM individuals start to recognize their ability around the ages nine to 12, and they use the calendar to anchor their memories.
HSAM has puzzled researchers since 2000, when the first person with such superior memory reached out to James McGaugh, a now distinguished professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine. When asked about his hypothesis for the origin of HSAM, McGaugh brings up a 2018 study published in PNAS. “It suggests the possibility ...
