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View Full Version : MRIs reveal possible source of woman's super-memory


mcgreen311
01-28-2009, 06:45 AM
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-01-27-mri-super-memory_N.htm?se=yahoorefe r

A Southern California man employed in the entertainment business is the fourth person verified by scientists to have an ultra-rare memory gift: He recalls in detail most days of his life, as well as the day and date of key public events, says Larry Cahill, who co-leads a project on people with super-memory.

The name of the latest "bona fide" won't be released by scientists because he's a research subject, but he is free to identify himself.

Meanwhile, MRI scans on Jill Price, 43, the Los Angeles religious school administrator who in 2006 was the first person confirmed to have such an ability, reveal two abnormally large areas in her brain. That discovery could lead to breakthroughs on how memories are formed and kept, says Cahill, a neuroscientist at the University of California-Irvine. Price went public last year with the publication of her book, The Woman Who Can't Forget.

This article has a little more background:

Decades of details flood woman with unmatched memory

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-05-07-cant-forget-price_N.htm?loc=interstit ialskip

Debbie
01-28-2009, 09:19 AM
That is pretty amazing. I have never heard this story before. How can others be so opposite?

sandie
01-28-2009, 08:41 PM
It is a fascinating report. It's interesting that the woman sees the facts in isolation, without generalising.

Not so sure I'd want to remember everything in detail. It's best to have some memories fade away.

Pouye
01-29-2009, 03:03 AM
It is a fascinating report. It's interesting that the woman sees the facts in isolation, without generalising.

Not so sure I'd want to remember everything in detail. It's best to have some memories fade away.

No lecture notes, though... and you would ace any test. :D

Rock

mcgreen311
01-29-2009, 03:09 AM
It is a fascinating report. It's interesting that the woman sees the facts in isolation, without generalising.

Not so sure I'd want to remember everything in detail. It's best to have some memories fade away.

Oh definitely. What struck me in the second (or first, if we're going chronologically) article was that she had poor marks in analyzing things. So you're stuck with these memories with no way to sort them, or evaluate them.

Of course, having the bug for analyzing things can pose similar problems of its own.

No lecture notes, though... and you would ace any test.

Weeeeellll....assuming it was short answer and not evaluative essays. :)

Pouye
01-29-2009, 04:17 AM
Oh definitely. What struck me in the second (or first, if we're going chronologically) article was that she had poor marks in analyzing things. So you're stuck with these memories with no way to sort them, or evaluate them.


That's because memories need interpretation. It would seem to me that it would be very frustrating to try to interpret so much stuff and make sense of it all. Yikes. Maybe ignorance truly is bliss!

Rock

mcgreen311
01-29-2009, 09:19 AM
That's because memories need interpretation. It would seem to me that it would be very frustrating to try to interpret so much stuff and make sense of it all. Yikes. Maybe ignorance truly is bliss!

Rock

Sometimes, I'd like to try that ignorance thing out. Then I come to my senses and figure it might not be all it's cracked up to be.

Pouye
01-29-2009, 02:13 PM
Then I come to my senses and figure it might not be all it's cracked up to be.

There's your problem right there. You can't be both ignorantly blissful and also come to your senses. The two propositions are mutually exclusive. :eek:
Just don't do the second and you will remain happy.

Rock