 | |  |  | Marilu Henner News & Gossip
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| | Marilu Henner can remember every detail of every day of her entire life without fail | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Here’s a fascinating story from 60 Minutes about something called “superior autobiographical memory,” which basically means being able to remember every day and every moment in your life down to insignificant details. Actress Marilu Henner, 58, best known for her role on Taxi, has this ability. She’s one of only six people that have been identified with it. 60 Minutes anchor Leslie Stahl is good friends with Henner and initially told her producer that she wasn’t interested in this story, because she knew Henner and didn’t think this was as rare as it is.
This ability has only recently been discovered. The handful of people with superior autobiographical memory have proven to scientists that their memories are infallibly accurate by quickly recounting known details from random dates provided to them, including weather conditions and public events. They usually describe their extraordinary ability by simply saying that they “see” the day in question as if it were yesterday.
The people with this talent shown on 60 Minutes seem superficially “normal.” They deny that they’re autistic or savants and researchers say they seem to function normally. They all have OCD-like behaviors, such as organizing and hand washing, but don’t seem to be crippled by them. This may reveal how they’re not overwhelmed by all those vivid memories, because as Henner explained she’s organized them so well she can recall any day at a moments notice.
If you’d like to watch this story, it’s available in two parts online and below. Marilu Henner comes in at around 6:00 in the first video. It cracks me up so much how she can tell you everything that she’s done ever. Fast forward to 9:50 in the first video to see five people with this ability all recall random events and dates at the same time.
MRI results show that people with this ability have parts of their brain that are “significantly larger” than control subjects. The temporal lobe, where memories are stored, and another part of the brain the caudate nucleus, are much larger in this group than in average people. This is somewhat consistent with MRI findings in people with obsessive compulsive disorder, although the results with this group are much more significant.
I had a girlfriend in high school who could recount entire conversations she’d had word for word. It didn’t seem like she was making up dialog at all, and she could tell you the exact words. It was interesting (i.e. gossip worthy) only about 10% of the time and soon became boring. You don’t want to hear about something in real time, you only want to know the important details. This ability to remember every day of your life is fascinating, though. It seems like such a mixed blessing. One person with
superior autobiographical memory declined to be interviewed by 60 Minutes as she finds that it interferes too much with her life.
On a superficial level, I want Marilu Henner to come organize my closet. She’s incredible.
You can read more about this phenomenal ability on CBS.com.
Marilu Henner on “Time Traveling.” This is a one minute video demonstrating her ability:
60 Minutes episode on superior autobiographical memory Part 1
60 Minutes episode on superior autobiographical memory Part 2
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