University of California-Irvine scientists have found fascinating differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10, the 'Science Daily' reported.
The phenomenon of highly superior autobiographical memory first documented in 2006 by UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh and colleagues in a woman identified as "AJ" has been profiled on CBS's '60 Minutes' and in hundreds of other media outlets.
But a new paper in the journal Neurobiology of Learning & Memory's July issue offers the first scientific findings about nearly a dozen people with this unusual ability.
The researchers have assessed more than 500 people who thought they might possess highly superior autobiographical memory and have confirmed 33 to date, including the 11 in the paper, according to the journal.
All had variations in nine structures of their brains compared to those of control subjects, including more robust white matter linking the middle and front parts.
Most of the differences were in areas known to be linked to autobiographical memory, "so we're getting a descriptive, coherent story of what's going on," researcher Aurora LePort, at UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory was quoted as saying.
However, these people with exceptional autobiographical memory did not score well on the routine memory tests.
Only when asked about public or private events that occurred after age 10, "they were remarkably better at recalling the details of their lives," said McGaugh, senior author on the study.
"These are not memory experts across the board. They're 180 degrees different from the usual memory champions who can memorise pi to a large degree or other long strings of numbers," LePort was quoted as saying.
"You give them a date, and their response is immediate. The day of the week just comes out of their minds; they don't even think about it. They can do this for so many dates, and they're 99 percent accurate. It never gets old," LePort said.
