
Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory: Quality and Quantity of Retention - bookofjoe
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4720782/
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TrainedMonkey
The conclusions are expected, however it is nice to have experimental
confirmation. Now we just need to figure out what are they doing differently
to enable such phenomenal recall.

"We investigated recall of recent and remote, predominantly routine, events in
HSAMs and controls. Interestingly, HSAMs and controls recall the same amount
of information when tested within a few days (up to a week). Beyond this, HSAM
participants forget autobiographical details at a far slower rate than do age-
and sex-matched controls. Furthermore, in comparison with controls, HSAM
participants maintain more richly detailed recollections and their forgetting
curve for autobiographical memory is shallow, which should come as no surprise
given the nature of their memory (LePort et al., 2012). The data here suggest
that HSAMs are not better than controls in acquiring information. However,
they are far superior at retaining information."

~~~
zamalek
> are not better than controls in acquiring information

My earliest memory is 2 weeks after 4 (I am now 31). I can remember it down to
the most intricate detail. I cannot for the life of me remember the tasks I am
looking at this sprint (which is why I write them down). Memories seemingly
become more accessible the more time has passed; facts too, I can recall the
vast majority of my high school syllabus despite being someone who a solid
C-grade student.

This is the first time hearing about HSAMs, but based on personal experience I
would posit that it has more to do with how memories are _accessed,_ not how
they are stored.

~~~
gowld
1\. Do you know your memory is accurate?

2\. By constantly replaying the memory, you strengthen it. How much do you
remember from the day after your earliest memory?

~~~
officialjunk
2\. there’s actually no such thing as “read-only” from our memory. it’s closer
to “read and then rewrite.” so, it can change over time and often become less
accurate the more you access memories.

~~~
lloydde
Patient H.M. would seem to be counter evidence to your assertion.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Molaison](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Molaison)

~~~
wjn0
I don't think so.

> For post-1953 information he was able to modify old memories with new
> information. For instance, he could add a memory about Jonas Salk by
> modifying his memory of polio.

Additionally, the surgery he had, caused him to have a very... unique
neurological structure. I'd hesitate to generalize his experiences directly
that way.

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rajacombinator
Sounds very suspicious that people were able to name day of the week for
random dates 15+ years ago when most days that pass one has no reason to
associate the date and day of week. Makes me wonder about the individuals
participating in this study, their incentives to get an official high memory
credential, and whether they learned a formula for calculating days of the
week.

~~~
brandall10
There was a 60 minutes episode interviewing 6 SAMs[1]. They're tested with
random historical events happening back a few decades, some fairly mundane
such as weather patterns -

\---

"Let's move back in time now to 1990. It rained on several days in January and
February, can you name the dates on which it rained?" McGaugh asked.

 __Believe it or not, she could.

"Let's see. It was slightly rainy and cloudy on January 14th, 15th. It was
very hot the weekend of the 27th, 28th, no rain," she replied.

We checked the official weather records and she was right.

\---

1\. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gift-of-endless-
memory/](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gift-of-endless-memory/)

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fallingfrog
I am the exact opposite of someone with hsam. I forget things constantly, and
often have to fake my way through conversations like "do you remember when
we..". I feel like I'm a totally different person from who I was 10 years ago,
because I remember almost nothing from that time. I try not to get into
arguments because I just have to take the other person's word that events
happened like they said.

~~~
fallingfrog
..and I document my code very well..

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fjfaase
My adult son, who has serious leanring disabilities (cannot read, only do
basic math with number up to 20), seems to have an above average memory for
certain autobiographic details, such as who he was with on a certain date. But
I don't think it is in the order of HSAM.

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himom
This college student I dated: the sex was great but she also had some quirks
(and other thigs). One quirk was crazy, verbatim ABM. Good luck debating
someone with a “CCTV footage” memory.

