Basically since I was young I have had the weirdest memory.
I can remember things from 2 years old in exact videos all the way up to now. Small details about people in videos word for word. I can look at a room once and remember it like a picture. I’m not sure if it’s normal but I’ve never bothered to ask.
But when it comes to attempting to do it intentionally I can never remember it even the smallest numbers. I just can’t to do intentionally. Does anyone get the same thing?
What you are describing sounds like hyperthymesia or HSAM (Highly Superior Autobiographic Memory). Do look them up. It is a very small club, with maybe <100 people identified with this ability/condition. A few people with this condition have written books - among them Marilou Henner (yes, the actress) and Frank Healy, possibly more, and there was a 60 Minutes episode a while back that you can probably find online.
People with HSAM do not have an innate ability to memorize things that are not experienced by them in their life (e.g. history or mathematics or biology or literature). They are often average students. I heard that researchers were planning on doing some experiments with getting HSAMs to learn to memorize other information using mnemotechnics (i.e. the techniques talked about on this forum), but I don’t know how far it got.
hey sorry for the extremely late reply, would u know how id know if i had this? and if there is an actual diagnosis
I wouldn’t know. James McGaugh seems to have been one of the major initial researchers, but he is now 92.
Maybe check out the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. There is an email address at the bottom of the page.
Good luck! I hope you find something useful!