Previous
Your name:*
Send your comments on Clive's blog posts to clivecomments@aol.com
Total recall
The extraordinary tale of a fortysomething California woman whose over-developed memory means she seems to be able to remember every detail about her daily life from childhood onwards:
She first came to public attention in 2006 as "AJ," the pseudonymous subject of a paper in the journal Neurocase entitled "A Case of Unusual Autobiographical Remembering." ...Price herself seems unable to decide if her ability is a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, she writes, "I hate the notion of forgetting. I'm happy that I can remember so many episodes of so many TV shows I've loved through the years, that I can revisit any given day [and] know what really happened to me that day."
Her abilities came in handy when she had a job as an administrative assistant at a law firm. But often her memories arise unbidden, chaotic and unwelcome. "Imagine being able to remember every fight you ever had with a friend, every time someone let you down, all the stupid mistakes you've ever made."
Blogs: Melanie Phillips | Stephen Pollard | Americano | Coffee House | Trading Floor
Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Don
May 15th, 2008 7:17pmI don't know about my memory in general, but I can certainly recall every mistake I ever made. Perhaps that makes me a Catastrophic Mnemonist or some such creature. I feel her pain.