AJ’s Autobiographical Memory
This story is awesome, in the sense of “full of awe.” It is almost unbelievable, in the most literal sense. It questions my assumptions about the limits of the human mind. It is what I love about neuroscience.
40 year-old AJ says that she can remember individual days of her life, starting in 1980. Researchers are calling it hyperthymestic syndrome. I first heard about this story on NPR, and there was a follow-up short interview with her today. I luckily found a free PDF of the published Case Report (thanks Google!) from the journal Neurocase, and it’s very readable–something in-between a New Yorker piece and a scientific journal.
AJ has been rigorously tested over the last 5 years by neurologists in Los Angeles to both confirm that she’s not a hoax, and to learn more about her condition. On two separate occasions, two years apart, she was asked to recall the dates of all the Easters since 1980 (this is especially impressive, as AJ is Jewish). She also recalled what happened on each Easter; these were verified from meticulous diaries AJ has kept since she was 8: 
You ask her any date, and she says that she can go back and feel the day, almost relive it. A gift and curse: she vividly remembers each day of her childhood–her earliest memory is as an 18 month-old–but she remembers every bad day just as vividly. She doesn’t appear to have any other type of profound memory ability; she can’t memorize long lists of numbers, and she can’t tell you days of the week in her past or future. She has only an average IQ when tested (although her IQ memory component scores much higher). It’s almost too amazing to believe; you’ll have to read the report yourself to see all their verification steps.
Before this, I had assumed that the human mind would be simply uncapable of recalling so much detail–how neurons could somehow store so much information is beyond me–but it seems that it can recall, but perhaps at a price. AJ appears to also have OCD tendancies (as evidenced partially by her meticulous journaling); she appears to have some brain lateralization abnormalities; she appears to have some executive functioning deficits, as well as some dysnomia (naming objects the wrong but associated name) and decreased motor speed in her dominant hand.
It’s hard to imagine a world where all my days are recalled so vividly. Most of us only have small bits and pieces of our memories remaining; I remember going to the hospital to see my brother when he was born, but only in small faint outlines. I remember playing tetherball in the 4th grade. I remember a trip to New York in high school. But these are only little punched-out experiences that for some reason my mind chooses to recall, maybe only a couple each year of my life. But AJ can tell you the day she had conjunctivitis in 1987, or which boy she was going out with during high school when you give her a date.
I would imagine there’s a reason we don’t all possess this ability–that it perhaps distracts us from the rest of our lives, such that if we’re recalling so much about what happened on July 17, 1984, we won’t notice the tiger creeping up behind us to eat. I would imagine that the system of memory most of us have is at least somewhat optimized–balancing all the functions the brain has to manage.
There are three phases of memory: recording, storage, and retrieval–but it’s not yet known where AJ’s “talent” lies–is she just a better recorder? She was very retrospective as a child, looking back at her life often–did she teach her brain to do this? Or does she have better storage–she just can store more memories than you or I. Or is her brain better at finding the memories–is it more organized, like her OCD tendencies? And what would that mean for the rest of us–are all of our days just locked inside our brains, inaccessible, but actually there? Could this be turned on somehow?
I thank AJ for stepping forward and being so open to testing at her expense for the benefit of medicine–often in science, it’s the outliers that teach us the most about the rest of us.
PS: If you like this brain stuff, you’ll love Vilayanur S. Ramachandran’s Reith Lectures from 2003. He’s a neuroscientist at UC San Diego. Free streaming audio.
Extremely interesting! Thank you for posting this!
Fascinating. I wish Oliver Sachs would write more books about people like that.
If anyone (else) finds Dr. Ramachandran’s research/writings really interesting, he’s written a couple of stellar books: “Phantoms in the Brain” and “A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness.” Both very fascinating - and maybe a little overly scientific for average Joe, but very nice for nerdy summer reading. A little reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, but with more neuro details.
Thanks for the synopsis. I opened up the pdf, saw that it was 15 pages, and knew I couldn’t do it. Medical school is a beast and it’s nice to read about someone else making it through.
Cheers.
This is really such a cool case, and as you say, so emblematic of how cool neuro can be.
In terms of storage capacity, even if you assume the more conservative (and probably false) idea that memories are about traces - connections between neurons - the possible number of those is … well, it’s a fun thing to tell physicists, who are used to being able to grok really large numbers. They tend to panic. At the base, you have about a billion neurons, each of which could be connected to about 10,000 others, and each connection can be modulated in terms of duration, intensity, and possibly other things.
Then there are the numbers you get if you consider memory a function of proteins.
Thanks, Graham. Informative post. Interesting stuff!
Flea
This is an amazing story. My first thought was that I wish I could do the same thing, actually remember and feel what Sundays at my grandparents were like, hook into detailed memories about my dad….but then you think of all the things that weren’t so great, insecurities, mistakes….
As for me, what I CAN do is tell you my precise weight at any given point in my life. Now that,my friend is really wierd!
gives new meaning to fond memories, being sentimental, and nostalgia.
I am thankful that my memories aren’t so vivid!
I too have a prodigious memory for inane details of my former life. I can describe outfits I wore, who I danced with, what guy I was dating, etc…. My friends find it uncanny. If we go back to pictures or old notes I can confirm that I am right. It is good in one sense but sometimes it is too much because I find I can still remember things that upset me years ago and use them as a basis for a whoop ass argument. The one time it did help was in a recent dispute over how long I had been at my job. When I was able to recall names and positions of people I worked at while in the midst of a pretty crazy conversation, I was finally believed. This was BEFORE I went home and pulled out all the paper I had saved.
Vivid memories are associated with high emotional response, if I am to believe what I read. I have always been an emotionally strong responder. I am either really happy, really upset or whatever. There is not a lot of middle ground. I have no idea if I was born that way or made, but it is kind of cool.
The downside is every screw up I ever made is stuck in my head- so when I am feeling a bit blue——-I can perseverate and that is no fun!!!!
I don’t find this particularly odd. I can’t remember exact dates to everything, but I can tell you months and years. Music is a big trigger- I don’t listen to eighties music much because I am so distracted by remembering. For example, the Cars song magic is a trigger for grade ten, dating n m driving in a blue mustang to sh’s house for my only sleepover at her house, breaking up with nm at the lake down the road, and wearing my 3/4 length size 13 blue jeans. And my pink sweater.
My earliest memory is about age 2 at the apartment I lived in. I used to play funeral with my dolls. A little warped, but I had grown up most of my life in hospitals. I asked my mom and she confirmed it and said that she had thought it a bit odd. That and unthreading my pink sweater. Being attacked by a rooster when I was four was a bit unsettling and contributes to my fear of birds to this day. I am the only kid with recollections of my grandmother, that died when I was seven. When I was four my sister was born we stayed with my grandma and we ate cheez whiz toast for breakfast. It was a huge new experience. If I go back I can remember who gave me what for christmas with fair to middlin accuracy.
This ability has helped me through university - I am able to associate concepts that are emotionally signifigant quickly. I am able to recall information that I have found interesting on the web by thinking backwards. I am able to learn music by memory so that I can play an instrument that I have not played in fifteen years with much success.
It is an odd life- especially when I lose keys on a daily basis. But—–it is mine and I am pretty happy about being able to do this kind of stuff.