Here is a short video about an individual with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory.
What surprises me is the way they tested her memory:
By naming a date and then the individual names an event that occurred within that day, plus would add some subjective experience. For example: On the 32nd of August 1346, there was a plague, it was sunny and I wanted ice cream.
It is marvellous that each date is unique and has a solid event attached to it. This seems legit.
However, other things are not verifiable, like what an individual feels or what type of underwear is worn at the time. But it makes it sound like EVERYTHING is remembered. Could it be that an individual remembers days and big events that happen on that day? How could we falsify it, or fake it? Could that me a memory tehnique like this? (link)
Claiming that an individual knows ALL seven books of Harry Potter, word by word. Seems a little bit exaggerated?
It was tested by giving a chapter name and then the individual would say the first few lines that are present there.
Then, they would be given a line from a book, and the individual would identify the chapter from which it is. However, the individual would see which book it is (by the book cover) and could guess visually if it is at the end of the book or the beginning.
It is still impressive, but not pervasive. Could there be memory tricks involved? What about techniques from here?
What do you think?
Is there exaggeration just to make a show?
Could it be a mystifying and glamouring mental condition?
And where superior brain functions and memory techniques are separated?
Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory is a medical phenomenon that is scientifically documented and explored at length in studies and books. Hereâs a recent study:
I think it sounds like they use each day as a room in a memory palace. The room is just a metaphor anyway; maybe if you start early enough, you donât need to use places youâve been.
Just a note regarding the episodic/semantic memory distinction: I donât think that they should be so dogmatically separated.
In either one, memories of the other type can come along. With regard to episodic memories for example, itâs not unusual that personally memorable events are sometimes accompanied by somewhat neutral facts or events that occur at the same time such as the weather that day (even if it has no effect on the personably memorable event).
Circumstances surrounding the shocking memory of 9-11 or the Challenger event blurs the lines between the two types of memory during recall. (Though such memories are often called âFlash-bulb memoriesâ, I think the principle still stands). So, even if episodic/semantic memories are treated separately by the brain, they can still both be recalled as occurring together. Likely then, naming a date to which the individual can then recall an event, even if both the date and event are âsemanticâ data, can be accomplished because (presumably) the individual has experienced the âsemanticâ event in some way (such as seeing something on television).
Though they may be stored in the brain separately, both episodic and semantic memories may occur together, and as both types of data are still experienced by the person, it blurs a strict distinction when being asked about âsemanticâ events of a day in the life of a person who has HSAM for example.