What is "Highly Superautobiographical Memory?"

Have you heard about people who have a "highly super autobiographical memory" or HSAM? HSAM is the ability to recall perfectly every single thing that's ever happened to you or that you've ever experienced. HSAM is all-encompassing-if you ask someone with this incredible memory type to tell you what the weather was like on (pick a date), they can tell you.

The Researchers of Highly Superautobiographical Memory

Dr. James McGaugh, a professor at the University of California-Irvine and his side-kick, Dr. Larry Cahill, also from the University of California-Irvine do research on this remarkable condition. They have designed their own tests to determine whether a person has HSAM as it's only recently been discovered.

It was at first thought that just one person had the condition. However, once the segment on 60 Minutes called Endless Memory covering the condition was aired, several people contacted McGaugh and Cahill claiming, they too had HSAM. As of June 19, 2011, McGaugh and Cahill have tested a number of people and concluded that a total of 21 people now have HSAM.

How would you like to have Superautobiographical Memory?

Can you imagine what it would be like to recall every intricate detail about every single day of your life? Think about it, what you ate for each meal, what clothes and shoes you wore, even the weather outside would be recalled with just a prompt of the full date. Of course, if people ask us what we did on our 16^th or 21^st birthdays, most of us would remember. But what would it be like to have perfect recall for every single day of your life?

Those with HSAM also recall the date of all news facts they've gained throughout their lives. Okay, so several of us can recite the date that John F. Kennedy died or the date the Berlin wall was torn down, but what does it take to recall every single news story you ever heard? HSAM is downright mind-boggling.

Upon further study, McGaugh and Cahill, the researchers, determined that those with HSAM all have something else in common-some type of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD characteristics. People with OCD might over-focus on sorting personal items, placing them in order by color in their closets or keeping their hands and belongings excessively clean through repeated washing.

Factoid about Superautobiographical Memory

The former "Taxi" star, Marilu Henner, has been studied by McGaugh and Cahill and confirmed to have HSAM. To view a 60 Minutes video about this fascinating condition, highly superautobiographical memory, or HSAM, check out this link.

Sources

60 Minutes, CBS television show, June 19, 2011

CBS news website

University of California, Irvine website