'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
1–10 of 112 posts
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#2I wonder if she can index on specific details, or if a linear scan is required to answer more complex queries.
If she sits down to read through the periodic table, can she look up all of the properties of any element on demand?
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#3Act III of episode 585 of This American Life (a WBEZ radio show broadcast on NPR and distributed via podcast) discussed this phenomenon and spoke with a few individuals with HSAM:
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/585/in-defense-of-ignorance...
One of the individuals was a script supervisor in Hollywood responsible for ensuring continuity between scenes during filming. But it also ventures into powerful emotionally resonant territory, touching on the bittersweet implications of experiencing loss when memories never fade.
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#4There was a great 60 Minutes on this nearly 15 years back, where they picked random facts from historical record and got pretty shocking immediate recall:
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#5There was a great 60 Minutes on this nearly 15 years back, where they picked random facts from historical record and got pretty shocking immediate recall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zTkBgHNsWM
I found it interesting that she didn't remember everything. Notably in one example, she couldn't recall what she had for lunch, but did for dinner.
I find it almost more weird that she can recall so many meaningless (in the grand scheme) details yet there is still a limit. Perhaps too meaningless?
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#6> For Emily, it was validation that she wasn’t, as she puts, it “weird.”
Being one of only like 100 people with the same superpower? Yes, not weird at all :P
Wasn't there some theory that we forget things slowly in order to keep us sane or something like that? Given that these people have perfect recall and remain completely normal and functional far more likely makes it an unintentional fault that needs fixing than an evolutionarily selected-for attribute.
> Those with superior memory remember the good, but they will also never forget the bad. They feel the pain as if it were today. Some with HSAM struggle with anxiety and depression as a result.
Yeah and so do lots of the rest of us, doesn't seem like that much of a correlation.
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#7I suppose if she is ever on hard times, she can study for a month and cleanup on Jeopardy or a similar quiz show.
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#8> For Emily, it was validation that she wasn’t, as she puts, it “weird.” Being one of only like 100 people with the same superpower? Yes, not weird at all :P Wasn't there some theory that we forget things slowly in order to keep us sane or something like that? Given that these people have perfect recall and remain completely normal and functional far more likely makes it an unintentional fault that needs fixing than…
Even if you could remember everything, I am curious how you keep it straight. I may be extra boring, but a lot of my life is rote. Day 452 of Job is really similar to day 451 and 453.
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#9I wonder if she can index on specific details, or if a linear scan is required to answer more complex queries. If she sits down to read through the periodic table, can she look up all of the properties of any element on demand?
Isn’t that what she did? They randomly picked calendar dates and asked her to explain things that happened on each day.
Re: 'Super memory': Why Emily Nash is sharing her brain with science
#10> For Emily, it was validation that she wasn’t, as she puts, it “weird.” Being one of only like 100 people with the same superpower? Yes, not weird at all :P Wasn't there some theory that we forget things slowly in order to keep us sane or something like that? Given that these people have perfect recall and remain completely normal and functional far more likely makes it an unintentional fault that needs fixing than…
Even if you could remember everything, I am curious how you keep it straight. I may be extra boring, but a lot of my life is rote. Day 452 of Job is really similar to day 451 and 453.
Why not? It's not constant super awareness of your memory, just having all of it available if you need it. Instead of trying to remember something and drawing a blank you just remember it. At least that's my understanding of it.
I honestly really envy people who can maintain long term memory without constantly refreshing it. All the classes I've ever taken soon got rm -rfed after the final exam, except for the handful of things that I needed to keep knowing on a regular basis.