Superhero memory: The condition that lets this teenage girl recall her past with perfect detail

Hyperthymesia, also known as Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), is an extremely rare condition in which a person can recall a vast number of personal life events in vivid and precise detail. This is not like having a good memory for facts or being able to memorize things easily; rather, it is a specific and involuntary recall of one’s own past.

The memory is primarily for personal experiences. People with hyperthymesia can recall specific dates from their lives, what they were doing, what they were wearing, or even what was in the news on that day, sometimes decades earlier.

The memories are not recalled through conscious effort or mnemonic devices. They often appear to a person with hyperthymesia as an uncontrollable stream of associations. When given a date, they may immediately “see” a vivid mental depiction of that day.

While it might sound like a remarkable ability, hyperthymesia can also be a burden. The constant, unstoppable flow of memories can be mentally exhausting and make it difficult to focus on the present. It also means that negative or traumatic experiences are remembered with the same clarity and emotional intensity as positive ones, which can lead to psychological distress.

Since the condition was first described in 2006, fewer than 100 cases have been scientifically documented worldwide. The exact cause is unknown, but research suggests that people with hyperthymesia may have differences in brain structure, such as a larger right amygdala and increased connectivity between certain brain regions involved in memory and emotion.

French teenage case

A French teenager recently was diagnosed with hyperthymesia and told her family as she was long aware that something about her memory was different, but had been afraid to mention it before because she had been accused of lying as a child.

Autobiographical memories are separate from emotionless functional and academic knowledge, stored in an unorganized space she calls “black memory.”

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