"Each case reported a lifetime inability to recollect events from a first-person perspective". "The SDAM cases reported here have a lifetime of practice in com

"Each case reported a lifetime inability to recollect events from a first-person perspective". "The SDAM cases reported here have a lifetime of practice in compensating for their lack of first-person, autonoetic connection to their own past with non-episodic processes (supported by, for example, rehearsing events and reviewing photographs)" They tested this by asking participants to recall and describe past events in as much detail as they could, then scored the transcribed recollections based on whether they were internal experiences (things they could sense, emotions they felt, etc) or external ('semantic facts (factual information or extended events that did not require recollection of a specific time and place), autobiographical events tangential or unrelated to the main event, repetitions, or other metacognitive statements (“I can׳t remember”) or editorializing (“It was the best of times”).') They also scored the recollections on how detailed they were. So, as a somewhat speculative example, presumably somebody with SDAM would be able to tell you that they went to the fairground with two friends, and it was sunny, and it was fun - because they have a photo with those two friends at the fairground in the sun, and one of the friends later told them it was fun. But they couldn't tell you what other bits of the fairground looked like, that it smelled of cotton candy and hot trash, what it felt like to go down the hill on the roller-coaster, how hot and thirsty they got waiting in line. I have somewhat deficient autobiographical memory - I have zero recollection of a lot of things from my past, and for others I just have a snapshot of them, like a photo with some vague feelings attached. But I'm still capable of experiencing at least some of my memories in first person, so I wouldn't qualify as having SDAM.