3 ms·

Isn’t that what she did? They randomly picked calendar dates and asked her to explain things that happened on each day.

• neilv 3y ago
  Is that O(n), O(1), or something else? And is any n the total amount of information stored, distance from now, distance from start, or something else?
  • datameta 3y ago
    From what I understand, if they are asked about let's say April 17th 2009 they linearly scan through all the April 17ths. So there is a filtering step that ignores all other 364 days. But they also don't start from their earliest memories so how does that filtering work?
• datameta 3y ago
  If I'm not mistaken, the question here is whether they will be using episodic or semantic memory in the recall of the periodic table. Meaning - can they recall learned facts as well as lived experiences? Will they linearly remember the moments of learning about each element? What is the granularity of their recall?
• lolinder 3y ago
  That's technically different than what OP is asking about. She could have a perfect memory for dates and experiences in her life but not have indefinite perfect recall for something more fact-oriented like the periodic table. It sounds like her fact-recalling abilities are deeply tied to memories of experiences and conversations, so she could probably intentionally structure a study session to take advantage of that, but it doesn't mean she automatically can recall everything she reads. Edit—looks like in general people with HSAM do not have better than average memory as measured by other kinds of tests: > So far, the studied conducted at UC Irvine suggest that individuals with HSAM have superior abilities in autobiographical memories but are no different from age- and sex-matched control participants on standard laboratory memory tests. https://cnlm.uci.edu/hsam/ https://cnlm.uci.edu/hsam/