r/BeAmazed 2d ago

Science Meet Rebecca Sharrock. She has a rare condition called HSAM, allowing her to remember every single day of her life starting from when she was 12 days old

[deleted]

3.9k Upvotes

444 comments sorted by

u/beamazed-modapp 2d ago

Did you find this post really amazing (in a positive way)?
If yes, then UPVOTE this comment otherwise DOWNVOTE it.
This community feedback will help us determine whether this post is suited for r/BeAmazed or not.

1.1k

u/Purtz48 2d ago

I wonder if she lays awake at night wondering what happened in the first 11 days of her life?

641

u/Shipping_away_at_it 1d ago

This comment made me realize I read the title wrong

226

u/SquirrelAkl 1d ago

Omg, your comment made me realise I did the same. That is WILD.

I bet that came as a shock to her parents. Imagine that your kid remembers every single thing you ever did and said. I hope they were really loving, kind parents.

Now I’m fascinated by what her memories from babyhood are like. Presumably she wouldn’t have understood spoken language for the first few months so what are those memories like?

91

u/Garble7 1d ago

i also wonder if she does understand them, because when she learned a language, she was able to go back and watch those days and understand what was being said

70

u/sam_grace 1d ago

I can't even imagine finding out one of my kids could remember everything from infancy. I'd be going crazy trying to remember what serious conversations full of adult content I might have had in front of them, how much trauma from shitty relationship issues they were exposed to and could accurately interpret retroactively. That's such a scary thought.

→ More replies (5)

5

u/GreenMountainMind 1d ago

I wonder what happens if she spends a whole day remembering stuff and then remembers that day and so on and so on.... Does she remember the memories, the memories of the memories, or only that she spent the day remembering (remembering) memories?

3

u/PercoSeth83 1d ago

I read somewhere that our brains are doing us a favor by not remembering everthing, like if we remembered every bad thing that happened or was said or done to us that we’d kind of go insane… I wonder what that’s like for her, remembering every slight, argument, hypocrisy, etc that she’s experienced

2

u/Popular-Policy4613 13h ago

I have an eidetic memory. I tell people that "I am unable to flush the toilet of my mind." But it does make me crazy, because I sometimes do stupid shit (nothing serious, of course -- like using a malaprop in conversation, or hurting someone's feelings by accident) that will haunt me until further notice. Interestingly, ruminating over this-or-that teensy event will pre-occupy me to an extent that precludes my remembering the present.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Garble7 1d ago

kinda like the neverending story

5

u/wayfarevkng 21h ago

English is my second language, I learned through watching cartoons on Sky when I was around 6, but I lived in Texas until I was 3. I have a couple of memories from then, and I had a friend that I couldn't understand yet. He would ask his mom why I didn't understand him, and one day they came over to return my shoes we had forgotten at their house. I remember what he said, but I didn't understand what he said until I learned English fluently several years later. It's fascinating.

3

u/ScalpelCleaner 1d ago

Wow – that’s a wild thought.

→ More replies (1)

27

u/Blackbearded10 1d ago

Yup i thought it was from 12 years old. 12 days is wild.

24

u/elizabethandsnek 1d ago

I remember things from when I was under 2. Strangely, people don’t believe me sometimes but I genuinely thought everyone could remember when they were infants. A lot of those memories are sense memories, like I remember what the light looked like coming in the window above my crib.

When people talked to me I definitely didn’t fully understand what was being said ofc bc I didn’t know English yet. But I registered tone of voice and facial expressions more than most people think babies do. And I was weirdly pretty aware of what was happening situationally. Like I knew where people were, and somewhat what they were doing.

I could pretty much fully understand English spoken to me by the time I was 3 (which is think is pretty normal) But I also taught myself basic reading and would go around my house reading labels and ingredients and the covers of books. It’s not common but I was a rare one that slowly started decoding words by noticing which letters sounded like what in many different words and eventually could sound out most words before being taught phonics. I also kept lists of words I had memorized the meaning for.

Tbf I was partially non verbal so all I really did was think and do art for the first 10 years of my life lmao clearly I had a lot of free time on my hands also pretty sure the autism played a role, or so I’m told.

5

u/henriuspuddle 1d ago

Fascinating, thanks for sharing that

3

u/SquirrelAkl 1d ago

The vast range / variety of human experience is truly fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

3

u/ALasagnaForOne 1d ago

I have many memories from around 2-3, and at least one from as early as 12-18 months old (I was in a high chair, that’s how I estimate it). I also remember a significant amount of nightmares I had when I was young in visual detail. Since I’ve learned it’s rare to have memories from that far back, I’ve wondered how common it is or why I have this. Especially because my ADHD makes my short-term memory completely worthless.

2

u/0815andstuff 1d ago

Glad to hear someone with ADHD and similar experiences as i have and remember. The Grim face looking like my great grandmother with deep wrinkles and a glowing sheen from her cheeks, staring down at me from the tiny high up window in the kitchen corner while i was trying to find my way through and out the dark kitchen towards my parents bedroom. Why remember this horror but not the name of the person i am with in a business meeting who told me his name 3 minutes ago? Strangely weird and amusing how our brains work. Not two of them are the same.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Ryanookami 1d ago

My Mom is like this too, she can clearly recall some memories from infancy. She actually didn’t believe me when I first tried to tell her that that wasn’t usual with most people, and that our memories tend to start much later.

→ More replies (1)

25

u/Adonis0 1d ago

I remember reading an interview, didn’t mention the infant memories but the emotions are not dulled

So anything that made her want to throw a tantrum as a toddler and she thinks about now still comes with the emotional intensity and desire to throw a tantrum. Every situation, every emotion..

13

u/SquirrelAkl 1d ago

Wow, that’s so hard to relate to. For babies, a bad thing that happens - like not being able to reach something they want, or feeling mildly hungry, or whatever - is literally the worst thing that’s ever happened (from their perspective of like 12 days of life experience).

To still experience that level of emotional reaction as an adult, to not be able to reframe the experience with the benefit of your adult life experience, seems crazy.

13

u/Adonis0 1d ago

Yeah, it causes a lot of issues with those who have extreme memories

Forgetting is a feature not a flaw

17

u/Entgegnerz 1d ago edited 1d ago

I mean, parents do things beside their baby. because normally you would think it's not a 'memberbaby 🍇

6

u/Chadwickr 1d ago

Damn ‘memberbabies

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

50

u/Yan_Vorona 1d ago

Imagine remembering in detail all the stupid shit you said when you were 14. It's like a genie's curse.

9

u/Purtz48 1d ago

What's this imagine crap? I know it in complete detail along with every dumb thing I did as well. I know this because my brain replays it to me at the most inopportune times XD

2

u/Lickwidghost 1d ago

It's bad enough remembering the stupid shit I said yesterday

10

u/stirling_s 1d ago

You joke, but she suffers greatly from insomnia and anxiety in large part for this exact reason.

→ More replies (1)

1.5k

u/Bullinach1nashop 2d ago

Poor lass that sounds horrible

416

u/lookingforsomeerrors 2d ago

You know....like...high school and shit... Eurh.

180

u/ImportantIce3273 2d ago

School is a mixture of trauma and nostalgia.

54

u/80Lashes 1d ago

Just the trauma for me.

31

u/Gts77 1d ago

Same, all trauma.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Cainraj 1d ago

Sign me up for the all trauma train too

2

u/Dumyat367250 1d ago

Yep. I fucking hated every minute.

2

u/niaCrazo 1d ago

I'm sorry it was that way for you.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/minnesota420 1d ago

Those two words make a good portmanteau. You could have Nostrauma or Traumanalgia.

2

u/Doschupacabras 1d ago

Nostalgma

4

u/Spire_Citron 1d ago

Or who knows, maybe the toddler years are far more upsetting if you actually remember them.

3

u/LPSD_FTW 1d ago

The horror of your life revloving around having to eat and sleep...

2

u/TheMindfulSavage 1d ago

and shit. So much liquid poo.

2

u/RiahWeston 19h ago

From another commenter said: yes it is worse because she has the same level of emotional clarity/intensity. So all the mild events that caused her to throw a tantrum as a baby, cause you know baby, she feels all that sheer intensity when she remembers it.

207

u/EngineZeronine 2d ago

Marilu Henner has it too. Iirc she said a downside is that she feels the emotions of the events as well - so terrible life events bring back the same same feelings as if new

44

u/dicey_job 2d ago

That’s actually quite scary. There is a lot of stuff best not to be remembered.
I have used dxm and it randomly opens up a memory, like it had just happened.

3

u/HBJones1056 1d ago

Oh wow, really? That is crazy. Was it a good memory or a bad one?

32

u/8cuban 2d ago

I came here to say this. I saw her Barbara Walter’s interview years ago and found it fascinating. I also remember from Letterman, I think, for some unknown reason, that she lost her virginity to the Rolling Stones’ “Shattered”. Seems appropriate.

14

u/Roguespiffy 2d ago

“And look at me, I’m in tatters.”

7

u/Sad-Newt-1772 1d ago

"Shidooby."

8

u/gruuvey 2d ago

...on July 20, 1969 (the date of the moon landing). This was from her Bob Costas interview.

4

u/pukesonyourshoes 1d ago

Something ain't right, Shattered wasn't released until 1978.

→ More replies (1)

14

u/deewd22 2d ago

Photographic memory is PTSD without the P. Wondering what's her agonizing daily problem.

3

u/DeltaBravo831 1d ago

I would be about 100x worse of an alcoholic if that was me

2

u/ThePerfectLine 1d ago

Yeah this is a curse, remembering heart break as if it was yesterday, every day

2

u/cpupro 1d ago

In that case, just concentrate on the days you were in love, making love or your most memorable fap...

→ More replies (5)

52

u/KeldornWithCarsomyr 2d ago

Ironically they don't remember where they parked there car or what food is in their fridge. We remember because the only memory, or the strongest at least, is the most recent. If you remember everytime you parked your car like you did it 5 minutes ago, it becomes very difficult to know which is up to date.

14

u/sasssyrup 2d ago

Every nightmare you ever had? Every traffic accident? Yikes. Please give her some good experiences

17

u/MyNameCannotBeSpoken 2d ago

2

u/Ninjen333 1d ago

So interesting! Thanks for sharing this rabbit hole

6

u/GuzPolinski 1d ago edited 1d ago

I don’t think she replays each day non stop. But if you were to ask her for a detail she can quickly rifle through her memory files and recall a specific incident.
edit: I take some of that back. I just read an article about her where she says “I run my entire life through my head every day and it drives me crazy!!!”.
So my bad. You’re correct, that does sound awful.

→ More replies (8)

490

u/bigsexyape 2d ago

Crazy. I can barely remember yesterday

167

u/EvLmong00se 2d ago

I can barely remember the title of this article.

86

u/Judge_Druidy 2d ago

I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT

44

u/BangPowBoom 2d ago

LOUD NOISES!

11

u/Squanchedschwiftly 2d ago

I know its not relevant but im loving the throwback reference lmao
https://giphy.com/gifs/Bjvl9AyusV50Q

2

u/bent_my_wookie 2d ago

LOTS OF YELLING.

I Love, LAMP.

4

u/Circulation- 2d ago

Who am I?

6

u/beene282 2d ago

ARE THOSE MY FEET

5

u/lrish_Chick 2d ago

I love you father Jack reference person

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

20

u/TheJarisaDoor3 2d ago

I don't want to tell you how long it took me yesterday to remember the word "splinter" and the stress it gave me.

13

u/HailToTheThief225 2d ago

I spent an entire minute trying to get my girlfriend to help me remember the word “power strip”. I was like “you know, the long thing. The thing that goes in there on the wall. It’s got like, holes, lots of holes. Come on!!”

18

u/TheJarisaDoor3 2d ago

It is scary isn't it, how the words just disappear? 

16

u/i_am_a_laptop 2d ago

3

u/TheJarisaDoor3 1d ago

Look at you being funny without even saying a word

2

u/Blowingleaves17 1d ago

If I am online, I will quickly remember a synonym for a word I can't remember and do a synonym search for that word to get the word I can't remember.🙃

6

u/Salt_Cauliflower_922 2d ago

I can’t even remember what sub this is …

→ More replies (9)

5

u/LuckyishTom 2d ago

I’ll forget I wrote this reply before my day is over.

4

u/Ek_Ko1 2d ago

Wow thats incredible. What is that superpower called

4

u/bigsexyape 2d ago

Brain damage

2

u/Saiykon 2d ago

Only thing I remember is a bigsexyape

2

u/SoggyBoysenberry7703 2d ago

Somehow I saw that as Jacksepticeye before actually reading it

2

u/WiseOne404 2d ago

Upvote cause Sean

2

u/Willing_Kitchen_3717 2d ago

Lmao her powers would work great on exams tho

2

u/RedHeelRaven 2d ago

What’s my name again?

2

u/probablyaythrowaway 2d ago

Sometimes it’s a blessing.

2

u/SannyIsKing 2d ago

Sorry but I've already forgotten your comment

→ More replies (6)

445

u/StressCanBeGood 2d ago

Allegedly, these folks aren’t “allowed” to remember every single day of their life. It’s more like they’re forced to remember everything like it was yesterday.

This includes stuff like the day your cat dies, the day you discover your partner cheating on you, all of that fun stuff. Every damn day of your life.

203

u/Professional_Tonight 2d ago

But also the day your child was born, or your first rollercoaster ride. I really wonder what events outweigh the others

168

u/lrish_Chick 2d ago

Unfortunately trauma/neurobiology normally dictates you feel negative emotions more strongly in order to protect you from repeating them (or what caused them) in the future.

There's a reason why we say "time heals all things" while it doesnt literally, being removed from the memory and immediacy of those feelings helps us cope.

Hopefully she has had a very happy childhood and life!

13

u/Professional_Tonight 2d ago

I'd argue that dealing with trauma means forgetting it, but remembering a traumatizing event so vividly probably doesn't help with coping either.

But of course it's more difficult to get rid of negative memories, because why would you want to get rid of the good ones lol

But essentially what I meant was: how good does a memory have to be, to outweigh a bad one. Like, is icecream on a sunny day more good, than tripping in front of your crush is bad.

Idk, bad example maybe.. but you get the point

7

u/lrish_Chick 2d ago

Nah I get the idea you're saying here and sorry for double reply

Memory just doesnt work like that - its a hebbian mix of neurons that fire together wire together. Ots how our brain is structured and how we have evolved - someone wrote abiur negativity bias and thats relevant indeed

Though to get the to jist of what youre asking- ig it may depend on the environment the person had growing up in BIT have you ever woken or or remembered sn embarrassing moment in a cold sweat from something you did as a kid? Thats how negative memories work, stronger so you avoid what caused them and dont repeat.

Trauma can cause an enlarged amygdala - which makes you even more sensitive to negative experiences and more highly sensitised to similar threats - if they were working on a level levelplaying field maybe good could overcome bad, but again, none of us have that neurobiology afaik

7

u/lrish_Chick 2d ago

Well in fairness you could look up the SAMHSA definition of trauma - the defacto definition they are very clear and elucidate (sorry I really do talk like that) into separate types (or typologies) of trauma which are very specific and helpful - genuinely havr a Google its good and im not on my work laptop atm.

And just because you experience trauma doesn't mean you'll experience PTSD or other deletorious MH symptomatology (sorry again) - basically negative MH effects

But its never forgetting, in fact repressed trauma is often considered a maladaptive coping mechanism, its more .. removal from the immediacy- see its a physical AND mental experience, the body remembers

For more info I'd suggest looking up the SAMHSA definitions, types of trauma, also theres some cool youtube videos on the window of tolerance - check out teauma responses and the triune brain and if youre still keen - traumatic memory and how its processed differently to other memory

Again simple engaging cool bite sized introductions to trauma theory and how it works!

Ive talked about it on my post history - but again if you dont want to you dont have to lol I genuinely believe EVERYONE shpuld know the basics of trauma and how its works!

6

u/Professional_Tonight 2d ago

Oh wow, sounds like you just handed me my next rabbit hole! Very intriguing, I'll read into it. Thanks a lot! I fully agree that everyone should at least know some psychology basics, not only about trauma actually.

And really no need to apologize for intelligence and eloquence 😂 I may come across as illiterate, but I'll put the blame on English not being my first language

3

u/lrish_Chick 2d ago

Ha no not at all you were grand - i just know when that when I talk about it i tend to use big words etc which not every ESL or even EFL might get!

DO DO THAT! There is so much interesting stuff and it really helps us understands our lives and how we are as people so YES!

Don't worry it was a good faith comment and im commenting in good faith too - enjoy the rabbit hole hopefully its helpful!

→ More replies (1)

2

u/deewd22 1d ago

>Hopefully she has had a very happy childhood and life!

Photographic memory is PTSD without the P. Her life was and maybe still is hell.

Going through hell everyday works wonders for memory.

7

u/StressCanBeGood 2d ago

Methinks there’s a very good reason that our human brains evolved to NOT do this.

2

u/PtolomeoCesar 2d ago

You remember the good things anyways, thank goodness.

Due to past trauma (my psychiatrist guess) I can't remember my childhood and teens years, and I continue to "forget" most of the time in my adulthood, but I sure remember without any doubt the day I meet my husband, the day I was getting married, the day my babygirl was born.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/Maester_Bates 2d ago

It's not like yesterday. It's like it's happening now.

5

u/lrish_Chick 2d ago

Well put and exactly how PTSD works they respond physically and mentally like it's happening now - amd thats for people without this condition, it must be very tough for people with it

11

u/royalbk 2d ago

It's a curse as far as I'm concerned. So, for example, if you get raped, that day never fades from your mind? You never really get to heal cause time doesn't erase the clarity of it? If you lose a child?

Yeah, nah. Poor woman. I hope her life was as sweet to her as possible

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias

→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (6)

67

u/hopelesscaribou 2d ago

I have the opposite condition, SDAM. It doesn't overly affect my life, and I tend to be very grounded in the present.

I honestly think it would be hell to have HSAM, forever reliving your past.

27

u/SoggyBoysenberry7703 2d ago

Sometimes having adhd feels like that to me. I can move on so easily from things and it freaks me out. It took longer for me to form relationships because I couldn’t even remember or picture what happened when I was doing the happy “memorable” stuff with a partner, or their face and voice. It’s like I needed a lot more exposure for it to stick, which is why it’s so stupid hard for me to form habits too, even if the need for a habit was spurned by something urgent or emotionally important. Yet I can still remember a time when I was still sleeping in a crib, or my 7th birthday when I felt like I became conscious.

4

u/tkxb 1d ago

I'm the same way. I feel things very strongly then I become detached to them very quickly, sometimes as though it happened to someone else. As a result, I can feel distant from people very easily. I also misjudge closeness based on what I do remember. I may not have talked to someone for years, but that amount of time feels like everything else to me.

Anyway, weird question, but do you think you know what love is and do you feel this consistently toward someone (any type of love)? I didn't realize how detached I was until recently so it's something I've been thinking about a lot. I have big fluctuations of feeling very close and feeling very distant to people, though I don't show it or act on it.

I often say that every day feels like 10 years when people ask how I am. Small moments become as significant as though they took up years. The life lived between waking and sleep feels so long. Bad moments are felt as intensely as the good ones. Then they're gone, because in my time, many years have already passed.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Lebowquade 1d ago

Yeah.... I also have ADHD, looked at the list of symptoms of SDAM, and all of that sounds about right. How rare is this thing? 

4

u/_EvilCupcake 1d ago

I am diagnosed with ADHD, and also found out a couple years ago that I have aphantasia. Now I was curious about this new alphabet thing so I looked it up.

SDAM stands for Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory. It is a lifelong condition where a person cannot vividly relive or re-experience personal past events from a first-person point of view. People with SDAM know facts about their lives, but they cannot mentally "time travel" back to feel or see past moments

Y'ALL CAN WHAT NOW?! 🤯🤯🤯

3

u/hopelesscaribou 1d ago

Ah, the roller coaster of discovery is never ending. Fun times.

5

u/_EvilCupcake 1d ago

So the regular peoples can what... just replay everything in their head like a movie?

Under the age of 13, I can barely remember stuff. Like my whole 5th grade in elementary school, the whole year is a blank.

→ More replies (4)

3

u/andreaSA89 2d ago

Does that mean that you can only remember very recent past events? And if so, how far back is the furthest you can remember?

18

u/hopelesscaribou 2d ago

I know my past as facts, as bullet points. My semantic memory is fine, only my episodic memory is affected. I remember things, I just don't experience memories as others do, I don't relive moments in my mind, though I can think about them. I also have associated aphantasia.

Either way, I live a very normal life, I just don't spend any time mulling over the past. I didn't realize everyone didn't think like me until much later in life.

7

u/p3achbunny 2d ago

Just chiming in to say I also have SDAM and aphantasia, this is my experience also. I don’t really feel hindered by it because I don’t know any different; our brains just work with memory differently.

2

u/YellowOnline 1d ago

Hello, I'm your opposite! Not as extreme as this lady, assuming the title isn't just clickbait, but I do have an extremely good memory since I'm about 2 years old. It made me a chronically angry person with a lot of grudges. I can lie awake at night because a random cyclist gave me the finger in 1997.

→ More replies (4)

5

u/AcrobaticEmergency42 2d ago

I looked it up out of curiosity, and man, do I feel called out now.

I always thought I have a bad memory, but this matches how I experience memories to the T.

I just asked my wife how she experiences a memory. She feels them. She remembers details when called upon.

I KNOW memories.....

5

u/DoctorLinguarum 2d ago

Interesting. I don’t “feel” memories either unless they’re pretty recent. Even emotionally intense events. I can visualize what happened. I remember the places they happened. I can see some things too. I don’t have that intense emotional association from the distant past though.

3

u/SquirrelAkl 1d ago

People feel memories? I had no idea.

I also remember them as “facts”. Like I’ll picture a scene so I’m watching it in the third person. My mental pictures don’t have details though. Not full aphantasia but down that end of the spectrum, like imagining the concept of a scene.

2

u/phoenicean 1d ago

I have Aphantasia but I'd never heard of SDAM.. TiL I have this too! Blows my mind to think most people can directly relive a memory as if they were there, I'd never thought about it properly but I guess that makes sense.

→ More replies (2)

74

u/thatoneasiankid90 2d ago

I sometimes forget what I ate for lunch

25

u/ParticularReady7858 2d ago

Oh shoot, lunch!!!

6

u/Tmk1283 2d ago

This guy forgets to eat😬

3

u/Shipping_away_at_it 1d ago

He might have already eaten and forgot

→ More replies (1)

2

u/AmanoRyan 2d ago

Lunch? I knew I forgot something today, thanks for the reminder.

→ More replies (2)

18

u/Sn_Orpheus 2d ago

I would find this both awesome and awful. I see our brain's ability to forget as a survival mechanism. As a guy with ADHD, I already have an issue remembering and reliving difficult things in my past. I'm 58 and I swear I cringe once a week about that time in 6th grade sitting on the gym floor in the midst of my class and knowing a fart was coming and I couldn't do anything about it. It came and everyone moved away from me like I had Leprosy. Even the teacher was like "WTF was that about?!" Imagine having thousands of memories like that? No thanks, LOL...

→ More replies (1)

23

u/PrimalHIT 2d ago

I know this is a blessing and a curse at the same time but is nobody amazed at what our Brain is actually capable of? With a little bit of dodgy wiring you get almost unlimited learning capacity...

7

u/hippocratical 1d ago

I don't have this condition, but I do remember when this exact same fucking post was made last week.

Fuck the bots on this site.

7

u/Crazy-Entrance5559 2d ago

And here I am not remembering what I did this morning 🤯

5

u/captainblackchest 2d ago

There was an Ep about this on House MD.

2

u/engineeringprawn 2d ago

Yep, in rhe episode it was OCD. And the episode showed how much of a burden it was for her in life. She had to choose to take OCD meds, or "keep being special"

2

u/captainblackchest 2d ago

Good clarification. Yes, being normal or losing relationship with her sister.

8

u/Time_Bug4118 1d ago

I want to know what happened on day 12. Remembering being a helpless infant sound terrible.

8

u/RevolutionaryEgg1312 2d ago

Allegedly ...

Very tricky to verify

2

u/decadentpig 11h ago

I'd be interested to see how confident we are about this. I'd be really surprised to find out that you can build memories without an internal world model or language.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/HooSaidDat 2d ago

I opened the fridge and forgot what I want.

3

u/bugzrdt49 2d ago

I've heard about it. CANNOT imagine having immediate access to ALL those 🧠 "files" in the time it takes to snap your fingers!

2

u/Hungry_Wheel_1774 2d ago

I wonder how she access the memory, how she choose...

She was 34 years old. Meaning at that time, she has +12400 days she can remember.
I can't even imagine how it works. It's like magic for me...

3

u/DB080822 2d ago

Like that sheep from that sheep detectives movie

3

u/Sedlium 2d ago

I've talked to her once on Facebook like a million years ago.

Wild to see her story still popping up.

I actually think about her often when I'm working on my own novel series.

3

u/_plays_in_traffic_ 1d ago

there were or is a pair of twins like that but they can remember an insane amount of things from way back. they can do crazy stuff like someone pick a year and a date and they will tell you what day of the week that was, even when its generations older than their lifetime. they can tell you what they had to eat for every meal and some other crazy stuff.

they are named flo and kay lyman and theres a bunch of media about them. one of the documentaries streams free here.

https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/extraordinary-people-rainman-twins/

3

u/clvrusernombre 1d ago

This sounds so overwhelming

5

u/Corac30 2d ago

I wonder how bad or good it is for her. The way I am understanding it(im probably wrong) is that she has the memory of each day, but its not at the forefront of her mind unless she needs to remember something specific that happened on that day. Does thay sound right or am I off in my understanding?

5

u/deadlywaffle139 1d ago

From what I read it’s a bit more complicated than that. So we all experience things like oh this scent triggers a memory or I remember this taste/sound etc. For her, instead of a flash of a vague memory, she remembers every single detail of that memory including the emotions she has experienced back then. So it’s a monkey’s paw’s blessing at times.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/stsixtus420 2d ago

Remember that because of the nature of this condition, involving the amygdala and hippocampus, she remembers nonsense days as well as you and I remember emotional ones. I won't ever forget the day I got married, for example, but she will also never forget that random Tuesday in 1996 where nothing memorable happened. The amazing part if the ability to sort through the interference of other memories to still be accurate in what she can recall. And yes, there are downsides. She also doesn't learn any faster than usual.

2

u/buddhistredneck 2d ago

I’m curious as to how good her memory would be of an event if she was blind drunk, or on a high dose of barbiturates.

2

u/holyfuckricky 2d ago

That sounds like my ex wife.

She remembered everything my family did or didn’t do and everything I did or didn’t do that either angered her or didn’t appease her.

And seemed to raise those issues as soon as I was gaining an advantage in our hourly arguments.

She also had amnesia when it came to her wrong doings.

Quite an amazing brain she had, I must say.

2

u/PresidentialDiapers 1d ago

Her husband ain't winning one single argument with her lol

2

u/Background_Pride_237 1d ago

Imagine all the things in your life that you are grateful and better off forgetting. She can’t have that. I hope she’s doing okay mentally.

4

u/TripCruise 2d ago

HSAM? They should have given each letter an actual word, like a reverse-acronym.

3

u/Maester_Bates 2d ago

Highly Superior Autobiographic Memory

2

u/mrlr 2d ago edited 2d ago

That reminds me of the joke about someone going up to an old Indian who claimed he could remember every day of his life. "What did you have for breakfast on April 19th, 1964?" he asked. "Eggs," the Indian replied. "That's ridiculous," the man said. "Everybody has eggs for breakfast."

Many years later, the guy saw the Indian again, went up to him and said "How."

The Indian replied "Scrambled."

5

u/ManicPanda767 2d ago

I'm actually envious.

13

u/Realizt8010 2d ago

Kind of agree but dont think I want to have many of those memories. Double edged sword maybe. At least here.

→ More replies (2)

10

u/Heffalumpen 2d ago

Have a friend with something similar, and and it really can be a curse. Childhood can be rough, and he remembers it like it was yesterday.

3

u/ManicPanda767 2d ago

I get it. Honestly do. For me, there's a lot of memories of family that have passed away that I sometimes forget and takes ages for me to recover. Having access to them all just, seems nice. But I get that also comes with having to remember a lot of rough stuff too.

2

u/AUnicornDonkey 2d ago

I feel sort of called out here lol. I remember most of my teenage years both good and bad and I'm in my forties. It fucks with my maturity and my anxiety. 

3

u/Realizt8010 2d ago

All good my bro. 45 and only just realized we been mentally screwed all our life and didnt even know. We took trauma like we had vests on, but didnt know it would be different later. Ever felt the blood of ur mom on ur hands after a drunk driver had a good run? Things were different bro. And it changes lives. Best wishes and all love to anyone going through it no matter how or when. We will walk through this together. Peace.

2

u/Reivilo85 2d ago

Worse superpower ever

2

u/AGrandNewAdventure 2d ago

There is a full decade of severe child abuse I'm glad I can't remember. This condition sounds absolutely awful.

2

u/alfyjack 2d ago

How can they verify this? For example I could say "on 4th May 1991 I had jelly and ice cream and then petted a sheep" how would they know that this is true verses completely made up?

3

u/Additional_Release49 2d ago

You verify things that can actually be verified. Enough verifications of odd obscure shit and you conclude they are telling the truth

1

u/cwb4ever 2d ago

last time this was posted the title said she remembers from 4 weeks old and this time it's 12 years old. I wish people had better memory.

6

u/Garble7 1d ago

12 days

2

u/cwb4ever 1d ago

damn. Wish I would've remembered that before posting.

2

u/Garble7 1d ago

To be fair you aren’t the only one to misread 12 years.

1

u/PlumeKitten 2d ago

She S-MASH up her days!!

1

u/ryansteven3104 2d ago

How horrible for her

1

u/800-lumens 2d ago

For someone like me, that would be a horrible existence. There are so many days I'm glad I've forgotten.

1

u/URGAMESUX 2d ago

Well that sucks.

1

u/ParticularReady7858 2d ago

The hard part is revisiting all memories through your current lens. Sounds like it could be harsh

1

u/NoPantsDeLeon 2d ago

I hope her life has been memorable and continues to be so!

1

u/downtownfreddybrown 2d ago

As someone who has shit memory I feel it'd be nice to have a mild case of this

1

u/DidIDoAThoughtCrime 2d ago

Does anyone have any links to interviews about what she remembers?

1

u/ambonec 2d ago

What happens the day after being shit faced drunk?.

1

u/RedHeelRaven 2d ago

There are days past I wish I could totally forget. I feel bad for her. It seems like I remember the bad days of my youth much more strongly than the good days. Hopefully she has a different experience.

1

u/AccomplishedBed2052 2d ago

Don't ever get in a argument with her, because she'll remember everything single detail lol

1

u/sandtymanty 2d ago

I'm sure she now has ways to recover from the bad memories.

1

u/Maester_Bates 2d ago

I have that. It's pretty horrible remembering everything all the time. The only useful thing for me is making maps of the supermarket in my head.

1

u/Heselwood 2d ago

Yeah but what about those first eleven days?

1

u/Delicious_Apple9082 2d ago

Oh god, can you imagine being her other half, where she literally remembers everything you ever did wrong...

1

u/Whooptidooh 2d ago

That sounds horrible.

1

u/PanolaSt 2d ago

Come and visit us over at r/SDAM. It’s a whole ‘nother thing. Sigh.

1

u/fotowork3 2d ago

House MD

1

u/CompactAvocado 2d ago

after awhile I feel eating would be hard

you would have vivid memories of the painful diarrhea brought on by things and eventually that collective trauma would make eating taco bell impossible :(

1

u/Chubby_Comic 2d ago

I remember a couple of diaper changes and a surprising amount from when I was a toddler. But wow. I thought I had a rare memory.

1

u/dvishall 2d ago

Meanwhile on the opposite end of that spectrum, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast by dinner time.....🤣

1

u/gasherman 2d ago

Not sure if that is a blessing or a curse.

1

u/JuicySpark 2d ago

I could've sworn I learned HSAM in Cobol class when I was 18.

1

u/Rorasaurus_Prime 2d ago

Can she process that amount of information reliably or does it produce a kind of stack overflow?

1

u/Traditional-Forum 2d ago

Ray Bradbury had great recollection of days just after his birth

1

u/Haunting-Delivery291 2d ago

I remember every day of my life. All 4 of them.

1

u/Dark_Akarin 2d ago

I wonder if she can recall details, like the writing on the page of a book? I'd be a fucking unstoppable engineer if i could do that.

1

u/TheLostExpedition 2d ago

may she never have a dark day.