7 ms·

The blessing and curse of people who never forget

48 points by pmcpinto 11y ago

mchahn 11y ago
I have always assumed these were some kind of scam but I looked up Jim McGaugh in wikipedia and his credentials are well established. It's truly hard to believe.
ChuckMcM 11y ago
I wonder if this is nuanced at all. I seem to recall every plot twist, gizmo, and character in Science Fiction that I read, it takes any joy out of re-reading that book because I already know it front to back, but other books on the fringes, like fantasy or the harry potter series? I can re-read those enjoyably.
plq 11y ago
I remember the Jill Price case. Turned out she was obsessively going over all her memories, non-stop, all the time. So hers was a normal brain, just trained very well to retain memories by unending repetition. I just skimmed the article, but findings seem no different -- only more people are found to have this condition, and it actually has a sciencey name now: HSAM. I wonder why BBC is running a story about this again?
- QSIITurbo 11y ago
  Because it's fantastical to think that some people have superpowers even though that's not the case. As an anecdote, I've met a couple of people who have claimed to have eidetic memories. All have turned out to be full of s++t :)
- gaur 11y ago
  > I wonder why BBC is running a story about this again? The BBC's science reporting is just shitty. They will repeat essentially any claim that is told to them. Off the top of my head, I can recall: * They ran an article about a "three-headed frog" discovered by some schoolchildren, when in reality it was obviously three frogs engaged in amplexus. [0] * They ran an article about an entirely forgettable mathematical crackpot who claimed to have "solved" division by zero. [1] * They ran an article about blondes going extinct. [2] * They ran an article that was essentially the plot of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine. [3] [0] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3534361.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3534361.... [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2006/12/06/divide_zero_feature.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2006/12/06/d... [2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm [3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/6057734.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/6057734.stm
  - spacehome 11y ago
    I thought you were exaggerating, but dear God.
  - techdragon 11y ago
    I know content is king... But seriously this is just sad.
kartan 11y ago
I have a friend that has a very good memory and it is kind of a problem for him. He can recall all character, places names, etc. from books he read years ago, while I cannot recall even the plot. But when it comes to bad situations in the past he also recalls them vividly. So he has a hard time forgetting abut old deeds. Sometimes he is rambling about a problem he had with a guy he worked with 5 years ago, or even about something that happened more than 10 years ago. > “It is like having these open wounds – they are just a part of you,” he says. I understand that it is this way for him, but it is sad that some what trivial memories get in his path to be happy. And I don't know how to help him.
- yaowenjiaozi 11y ago
  I think of it not as good recall but rather a comparatively longer duration of "the present". Which does present (heh) problems because some things are still in the present for me while for most others those things have been consigned to the past.
  - kartan 11y ago
    It is a really interesting way of looking at it. I don't know if there is any kind of concept like "long present" for people that does have a hard time forgetting things. I will be one of the "short present" guys for whom what happened this morning is a long time ago. :) My friend is always correcting me when I say, some time ago when he recalls perfectly that it was two days ago. I guess that two days ago is part of his "present" while it is just part of my "past". At the beginning I was trying to ask him to forget about that issues, that only was making him unhappy. But I was able to see that it was a different way of perceiving things. Do you have found any way of moving things faster to the past? Or you are not able or don't want to do it? It will be also interesting to know how much people can control this. I have seen a lot of techniques to try to remember more, but not so much to try to remember less.
- alashley 11y ago
  Does your friend spend a lot of time alone? As someone who struggles with the same thing, I find that being alone a lot of the time makes me reflect on the past a lot and old wounds tend to fester. Some people are thinkers in that way, and while it can have its upsides, it certainly has downsides. I think spending more time laughing with others, relating to them and having fun is better than thinking all the time. But personally I'm in the process of finding people I can relate to better.
kinai 11y ago
I can rewatch every movie/series I have seen in my mind. I always thought that is normal until someone told me it is not. I can't even describe how it works, but basically I can see the movie and forward/rewind. Since I watch a huge amount of movies/series (1500+ movies alone) there is a lot in me head I guess. Can be fun though, if you are bored and got no tv/computer/phone around, I can close my eyes and watch something on demand :) I also can remember most days in my life like this. As stated it can be a burden, those unhealed wounds of dramatic experiences that you live through over and over again in every detail.
- nevster 11y ago
  To try to understand what this feels like, there are some movies I can do this with, like Star Wars or The Matrix because I've seen them so many times. Can't imagine being able to do this for everything I've watched though!
- ianamartin 11y ago
  I'm the same way, but with classical music. I can "listen" to pretty much any piece I've ever played. And in fact I often can't stop it. The second a person or conversation or situation loses my interest, the music turns on in my head, and I'm no longer paying any attention to you. I'm listening to a Brahms quintet or a Beethoven symphony. I hear it just as clearly as if it were playing over speakers. It's actually kind of a problem. I don't in general have a particularly wonderful memory. It's just that I constantly reinforce.
  - kinai 11y ago
    Interesting, I listen to music all day, all types of genre, lot of classical pieces too, but I can't recall them like I can with video. But I am a very visual person in general, I also see what I think about, even words or numbers.
  - nevster 11y ago
    Now that I can relate to. But am I wrong in thinking that most people can do this? Not for classical music but for popular songs. Ie if you ask someone to think of one of their favourite songs, couldn't they basically listen to it in their mind?
chowraid 11y ago
It's such an interesting article. I do see the association of the "open wounds", if used wisely it can prevent an individual from repeating the same error. I would love to see this app that the researchers are trying to release.
kposehn 11y ago
> Veiseh even thinks his condition has made him a kinder, more tolerant person. “Some say ‘forgive and forget’, but since forgetting is a luxury I don't have, I need to learn to genuinely forgive,” he says. “Not just others, but myself as well.” This is probably the best insight of all here. A lesson for all of us to remember.
- alashley 11y ago
  Very true, he's likely also keenly aware of how his words and actions can have long lasting effects on others.
danieltillett 11y ago
I used to have an very accurate and detailed memory, but as I have got older it is no longer as good. Once upon a time I would have bet my life on the accuracy of my memory, but now I would not. It totally sucks, but I guess that is part of ageing.

48 points by pmcpinto 11y ago

I have always assumed these were some kind of scam but I looked up Jim McGaugh in wikipedia and his credentials are well established. It's truly hard to believe.

ChuckMcM 11y ago

I wonder if this is nuanced at all. I seem to recall every plot twist, gizmo, and character in Science Fiction that I read, it takes any joy out of re-reading that book because I already know it front to back, but other books on the fringes, like fantasy or the harry potter series? I can re-read those enjoyably.

plq 11y ago

I remember the Jill Price case. Turned out she was obsessively going over all her memories, non-stop, all the time. So hers was a normal brain, just trained very well to retain memories by unending repetition. I just skimmed the article, but findings seem no different -- only more people are found to have this condition, and it actually has a sciencey name now: HSAM. I wonder why BBC is running a story about this again?

QSIITurbo 11y ago
Because it's fantastical to think that some people have superpowers even though that's not the case. As an anecdote, I've met a couple of people who have claimed to have eidetic memories. All have turned out to be full of s++t :)
gaur 11y ago
> I wonder why BBC is running a story about this again? The BBC's science reporting is just shitty. They will repeat essentially any claim that is told to them. Off the top of my head, I can recall: * They ran an article about a "three-headed frog" discovered by some schoolchildren, when in reality it was obviously three frogs engaged in amplexus. [0] * They ran an article about an entirely forgettable mathematical crackpot who claimed to have "solved" division by zero. [1] * They ran an article about blondes going extinct. [2] * They ran an article that was essentially the plot of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine. [3] [0] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3534361.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3534361.... [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2006/12/06/divide_zero_feature.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2006/12/06/d... [2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm [3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/6057734.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/6057734.stm
- spacehome 11y ago
  I thought you were exaggerating, but dear God.
- techdragon 11y ago
  I know content is king... But seriously this is just sad.

kartan 11y ago

I have a friend that has a very good memory and it is kind of a problem for him. He can recall all character, places names, etc. from books he read years ago, while I cannot recall even the plot. But when it comes to bad situations in the past he also recalls them vividly. So he has a hard time forgetting abut old deeds. Sometimes he is rambling about a problem he had with a guy he worked with 5 years ago, or even about something that happened more than 10 years ago. > “It is like having these open wounds – they are just a part of you,” he says. I understand that it is this way for him, but it is sad that some what trivial memories get in his path to be happy. And I don't know how to help him.

yaowenjiaozi 11y ago
I think of it not as good recall but rather a comparatively longer duration of "the present". Which does present (heh) problems because some things are still in the present for me while for most others those things have been consigned to the past.
- kartan 11y ago
  It is a really interesting way of looking at it. I don't know if there is any kind of concept like "long present" for people that does have a hard time forgetting things. I will be one of the "short present" guys for whom what happened this morning is a long time ago. :) My friend is always correcting me when I say, some time ago when he recalls perfectly that it was two days ago. I guess that two days ago is part of his "present" while it is just part of my "past". At the beginning I was trying to ask him to forget about that issues, that only was making him unhappy. But I was able to see that it was a different way of perceiving things. Do you have found any way of moving things faster to the past? Or you are not able or don't want to do it? It will be also interesting to know how much people can control this. I have seen a lot of techniques to try to remember more, but not so much to try to remember less.
alashley 11y ago
Does your friend spend a lot of time alone? As someone who struggles with the same thing, I find that being alone a lot of the time makes me reflect on the past a lot and old wounds tend to fester. Some people are thinkers in that way, and while it can have its upsides, it certainly has downsides. I think spending more time laughing with others, relating to them and having fun is better than thinking all the time. But personally I'm in the process of finding people I can relate to better.

kinai 11y ago

I can rewatch every movie/series I have seen in my mind. I always thought that is normal until someone told me it is not. I can't even describe how it works, but basically I can see the movie and forward/rewind. Since I watch a huge amount of movies/series (1500+ movies alone) there is a lot in me head I guess. Can be fun though, if you are bored and got no tv/computer/phone around, I can close my eyes and watch something on demand :) I also can remember most days in my life like this. As stated it can be a burden, those unhealed wounds of dramatic experiences that you live through over and over again in every detail.

nevster 11y ago
To try to understand what this feels like, there are some movies I can do this with, like Star Wars or The Matrix because I've seen them so many times. Can't imagine being able to do this for everything I've watched though!
ianamartin 11y ago
I'm the same way, but with classical music. I can "listen" to pretty much any piece I've ever played. And in fact I often can't stop it. The second a person or conversation or situation loses my interest, the music turns on in my head, and I'm no longer paying any attention to you. I'm listening to a Brahms quintet or a Beethoven symphony. I hear it just as clearly as if it were playing over speakers. It's actually kind of a problem. I don't in general have a particularly wonderful memory. It's just that I constantly reinforce.
- kinai 11y ago
  Interesting, I listen to music all day, all types of genre, lot of classical pieces too, but I can't recall them like I can with video. But I am a very visual person in general, I also see what I think about, even words or numbers.
- nevster 11y ago
  Now that I can relate to. But am I wrong in thinking that most people can do this? Not for classical music but for popular songs. Ie if you ask someone to think of one of their favourite songs, couldn't they basically listen to it in their mind?

chowraid 11y ago

It's such an interesting article. I do see the association of the "open wounds", if used wisely it can prevent an individual from repeating the same error. I would love to see this app that the researchers are trying to release.

kposehn 11y ago

> Veiseh even thinks his condition has made him a kinder, more tolerant person. “Some say ‘forgive and forget’, but since forgetting is a luxury I don't have, I need to learn to genuinely forgive,” he says. “Not just others, but myself as well.” This is probably the best insight of all here. A lesson for all of us to remember.

alashley 11y ago
Very true, he's likely also keenly aware of how his words and actions can have long lasting effects on others.

danieltillett 11y ago

I used to have an very accurate and detailed memory, but as I have got older it is no longer as good. Once upon a time I would have bet my life on the accuracy of my memory, but now I would not. It totally sucks, but I guess that is part of ageing.