Around 60 People In The World, Have Superhuman Memory And Remember Each Day Of Their Lives!!!

I have an issue or maybe i don't! Maybe i am overthinking things or just maybe i am not!

Alot of learning as gone on within my time here on steemit. I recall most of this stuff! 

Yesterday, what happened in my steemit journey? I can't exactly recall each activity i engaged in clearly but i can remember some things! I know i was here! Not the exact time but at least i remember that i was here yesterday and yes, i commented alot. I was able to render some help too,;in the form of rendering answers, to a certain a steemian, who was concerned, about why the value of his steemit account keeps dissipating. I also learned, not to wash you raw chicken; yes, yesterday! 

But do i remember, exactly how the furniture is positioned in my dad's house? Gosh! 

The last time i was there, was a recent 4 years and 3 months ago and i already can't remember the arrangement of things in my dad's house. My sisters remember all these things! 

Is there something critically wrong with my memory? I remember where to find my steemit password and i remember what doctor @thecryptofiend said in his post days ago, about ways to maximize our visits to doctors but gosh, i can't remember directions to places, that i have gone to recently by road! I always get lost! 

Imagine this; i am the one who made that move; that defensive play, in a just concluded basketball game and after the game, my team mates are reminding me of these specific moments but i can't seem to recall them exactly! Yes, i remember that i played well and had blocks but they remember almost each moment in my play! 

And it didn't just start! it has always been like this, since i was young at least with roads and directions and names! i would remember faces though and could memorize books word for word! 

I don't know if this is a condition etc. I do know though, that peers around me know directions to places etc. And some people i know, have gone beyond that; A girl i know remembers all the dates. All the dates we have met and all the events in it! How is this possible? I definitely can't remember the events vividly, let alone dates! I would definitely remember a summary of events but it is always a summarized memory. 

When i was younger, i used to memorize books before exams and go write exams word for word, that was my method to pass exams but as i grew older, my pattern for reading changed and i was more keen on concepts and principles, a summarized overall picture! So i may not know pinpoint details but i would know the entire picture, before you even got there! Does this have anything to do with anything?

I do feel something is wrong! Do i need to fret about this? Is something wrong?

It just became of utmost concern for me now, than ever before! I mean around 60 people in the world, know everything that happen in their lives; from exact dates, to exact times within each day. 

Pick any date and they will tell you, what they did at a specific time on that chosen date. This scares me!

These almost 60 recorded people are with a "highly superior autobiographical memory - HSAM". Superhuman? 

I doubt if you had any idea, what day it even was, on the 9th of Jan 2017. People with HSAM however, can tell you what day, JAN 16, 2012 was. Gosh! 

 Scientists haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what gives people with HSAM, this superpower, but based on studies and research carried out over the years, they have been able to establish a few theories. 

image source/credit to: curiosity.com

The first documented case of HSAM was published in 2006. Before this time, it was known to be a condition or to have existed, neither was it known to be HSAM. 

This very first publication was indeed, a very touch journal and that a woman called Jill Price and this can easily be the most touch journal, you will ever read as you hear her express, how burdensome it is to be superhuman! 

She remembers things deep into her infancy, her first memories being those of her as an 18 month old baby!

 You'll hear her almost describing her supposedly superhuman life as a prison ruled by memory of each day, every date, every occurrence in any date. Dates, sounds, names etc are triggers! 

It is automatic in how it triggers! Mention any date and it puts her being, into untold,uncontrollable action as she instantly remembers that, "it is was a Wednesday and she was sipping coconut juice under a tree, dressed in a tuxedo, when her phone rang!" 

According to Jill Price; "it goes on and on and on. It is non-stop, uncontrollable and totally exhausting." 

Who would want to let go of this special ability but it does come with overwhelming burden!

This burden spurred the need for her to find answers; leading to the very first record of someone, with this peculiar gift called; "HSAM".

Jill Price's recorded case, lead to others identifying this as perhaps, a special case or condition and a handful more people came forward to announce having similar capabilities as years went by and after careful testing, it became identified by scientists as HSAM. 

Even so, HSAM is rare, affecting only around 60 people worldwide! Scientists have ever since been in constant study these people in a bid unravel the reason behind this special memory type so as to better understand how the average human memory works!

There are similarities among people, who have been identified to have HSAM. Most have appeared to have obsessive behavior, e.g "a tendency to collect, clean, organize things, to an unusual degree! 

This makes some sense as someone keen on dates and events will want to organize their memories easier access or perhaps try for forget memories, thus, translating into their obsessive tendency to collect, arrange and re-arrange things!

 As evident in the case of Jill Price, these tendencies, may become even easier to understand! "If every date, scent, sound etc, triggers some memory and this is non-stop and automatic, it explains the tendency for her to have been especially organized and detail-oriented to the teeth! 

This a video featuring Jill Price: 

video source/credit to: Jill Price/Youtube

You will understand more, when you notice that these tendencies above; is also where people with HSAM are different from us!  

But that didn't explain it all to scientists as brain scans have shown structural and biological differences from regular people, in the parts of the brain associated, with autobiographical memory creation. 

Too, studies showed that, when you ask people with HSAM vs average people, to recall an event at the same time, the average person will forget after about a week whereas people with HSAM, will remember it for a decade or more.

Still all the findings above, haven't been conclusive enough as people with HSAM surprising have similarities with regular people! They are just as susceptible to false memories as us! So though, they can remember every date and every event, doesn't mean that their memory of the event, was perfect or exact every time!

This video gives some insight into how memory creation actually works and explains how the so-called photographic memory works:

video source/credit to: seeker on youtube.com

Another interesting finding that confuses scientists even more is; people with HSAM recall their memories, with the same mechanisms used by regular people! 

Findings are still ongoing! So far the limited implications realized by scientists according to The Guardian is; 

"possible reason for this special ability in HSAM people, may lie somewhere in the process between the encoding of a memory and its retrieval; in the interval or portion of the brain and mind, where consolidation into a long-term memory happens." 

Overall, there is still no established conclusion as to what actually gives people with HSAM the special gift of remembering so much!

According to me, i would have said that this condition may have something to do with patterns in upbringing. 

Why would i have said so? Like i said above, i don't remember dates or events clearly; but i do know people that remember dates! Yes, that is humanly possible! 

So where did the difference between me and these friends happen? It is either i have a form of condition or ailment etc or the pattern in my upbringing started to influence how i store things in my brain, over time! 

Above i mentioned, that as i grew older, life took over and concepts and principles started to become more paramount to me than theories; both in my pattern of studying for exams and in day-to-day activities. 

In conversations for instance, i am not any longer keen, on catching every detail but instead, on getting the overall picture you are trying to paint and sometimes, i may get to your point before you conclude your sentiment, as i have caught up on the concept, while within the conversation! 

Perhaps, this started to affect me down the line. 

Perhaps, if i sat down, to consciously exert my brain and mind a little, to try to remember, my childhood for instance; just may be, those memories will come out!

Today, the world has change. Instead, of ransacking my brain to remember the definition of cryptocurrency; won't i just quickly google it? 

So basically, i don't collect or archive information in my brain, to bring it out when i need it, because perhaps, half my brain is external and in the search engines and over time, this becomes established as the case. "Can that be it?"

Can this be why i can't remember events, directions, my recent past in details and my childhood; or i'm i sick or with impending brain issues? 

I do need answers and especially after reading about people with HSAM, who can even remember events that occurred each, in at least 365 days total. Even that is superhuman!

Does any steemian have HSAM? I will be honored to meet you!

To conclude i saw a another steemSTEM post today, that finally helped me understand what the steemSTEM initiative is about and since this post is about science; my unanswered questions and stirs the need further research and findings; i am adding #steemstem-competition2 to my post, perhaps it can be my very first submission.

 Though, it isn't fully formatted, i still want @steemstem to read it at the very least, perhaps, they will help to give me insight, into whether i have some memory or brain condition to be fearful about!

I also involved Doctor @thecryptofiend!

Here is a video from 2010, highlighting an interview with actress Marilu Henner; one of 6 people, who were said to be among people, who were recorded with HSAM at the time:

video source/credit to: health watch (CBS)

This a video from 2014, where the number have risen to 50 people! And this video was more elaborate as multiple HSAM people, where interviewed together and asked the same questions about past known events; to which they had to answer unanimously: 

video source/credit to: health watch (CBS)

And finally, here is a person who relates her case on youtube.com as she also expresses how burdensome this superpower can be as almost anything triggers her memory; be it a sound, noun, scent etc:

video source/credit to: a life journal

Additional article source/credit to: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 plus all the amazing youtube.com videos!

Your Boy Terry

@surpassinggoogle