4 ms·

The Woman Who Can Remember Everything

12 points by someperson 18y ago

tlrobinson 18y ago
This sounds slightly different than Kim Peek's condition (the "real Rainman"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2T45r5G3kA&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2T45r5G3kA&feature=relat... ... fascinating video) He remembers information he reads or otherwise acquires, rather than events that occur throughout the day (or at least that's the focus of his abilities)
timcederman 18y ago
This story keeps getting recycled every 6 months or so. If you read into the details of the situation it's not as incredible as you might think. People with hyperthymesia tend to obsess over their lives, reinforcing the condition with things like diaries and journals - it appears there is a link to obsessive compulsive disorder. Also, Jill can't remember everything - in testing, her short term memory is no better than the average person's.
lst 18y ago
Remembering everything is just quite as stupid as not remembering anything. Our brain intelligently selects the things that are worth to remember.
- dhs 18y ago
  So the fact that I can much more easily remember the lyrics to some pop song than the differences between the complexity classes BQP, BPP, ZPP, and PCP is actually a sign that my brain selects intelligently?
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - lst 18y ago
    I didn't mean it this way (but in a much more abstract way) -- but even here it seems to be true: If you really would understand the complex things (you mention) the same as the trivial ones (you mention), then you would be able to remember equally easy. So, the problem here is not the complex thing itself, but your non-familiarity with it.
angstrom 18y ago
They talked about her on NPR not too many months ago. She doesn't just recall events, but also the way she felt and even smells. Truely remarkable, but also debilitating.
coolestuk 18y ago
My father has a similar condition. Given any day he can remember what he was doing on that day and what events happened in the news (global or local). His ability requires voluntary effort though, and I wouldn't say he can remember everything from each particular day (I doubt that this woman can remember _everything_ that happened in each day). My father clearly has an order of magnitude more memories per calendar day than the rest of us. Unfortunately I didn't seem to inherit any of his ability - I can't remember what day of the month it is today. I don't know about the woman in the story, but it wouldn't take any stranger more than a few minutes to realize that my father is mentally ill (and I don't mean that his ability to record these events is a mental illness in itself).
swombat 18y ago
Well, if anyone had any doubts that the brain's capacity is too limited to support the extended lifespans that we will perhaps be able to sustain with improved technology (200...300..1000 years anyone?), that should solve them. A bit of tidying up, and there's plenty of space for well indexed memories. Daniel

12 points by someperson 18y ago

This sounds slightly different than Kim Peek's condition (the "real Rainman"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2T45r5G3kA&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2T45r5G3kA&feature=relat... ... fascinating video) He remembers information he reads or otherwise acquires, rather than events that occur throughout the day (or at least that's the focus of his abilities)

timcederman 18y ago

This story keeps getting recycled every 6 months or so. If you read into the details of the situation it's not as incredible as you might think. People with hyperthymesia tend to obsess over their lives, reinforcing the condition with things like diaries and journals - it appears there is a link to obsessive compulsive disorder. Also, Jill can't remember everything - in testing, her short term memory is no better than the average person's.

lst 18y ago

Remembering everything is just quite as stupid as not remembering anything. Our brain intelligently selects the things that are worth to remember.

dhs 18y ago
So the fact that I can much more easily remember the lyrics to some pop song than the differences between the complexity classes BQP, BPP, ZPP, and PCP is actually a sign that my brain selects intelligently?
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- lst 18y ago
  I didn't mean it this way (but in a much more abstract way) -- but even here it seems to be true: If you really would understand the complex things (you mention) the same as the trivial ones (you mention), then you would be able to remember equally easy. So, the problem here is not the complex thing itself, but your non-familiarity with it.

angstrom 18y ago

They talked about her on NPR not too many months ago. She doesn't just recall events, but also the way she felt and even smells. Truely remarkable, but also debilitating.

coolestuk 18y ago

My father has a similar condition. Given any day he can remember what he was doing on that day and what events happened in the news (global or local). His ability requires voluntary effort though, and I wouldn't say he can remember everything from each particular day (I doubt that this woman can remember _everything_ that happened in each day). My father clearly has an order of magnitude more memories per calendar day than the rest of us. Unfortunately I didn't seem to inherit any of his ability - I can't remember what day of the month it is today. I don't know about the woman in the story, but it wouldn't take any stranger more than a few minutes to realize that my father is mentally ill (and I don't mean that his ability to record these events is a mental illness in itself).

swombat 18y ago

Well, if anyone had any doubts that the brain's capacity is too limited to support the extended lifespans that we will perhaps be able to sustain with improved technology (200...300..1000 years anyone?), that should solve them. A bit of tidying up, and there's plenty of space for well indexed memories. Daniel