This blog is on Chapter 6. I skipped this chapter by mistake last week and wrote about Chapter 9. Well after reading this chapter it made me think about what would happen if we remembered all of the details of our lives. Can this really happen? The answer is yes because a woman known as AJ has the ability to remember with incredible details the events that happened in her life. She claims that if you give her any date she could remember which day of the week it was, the personal details of her life at the time, and any news events that occurred on that day. James McGaugh, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, thought is was not true at first but after performing some tests he states with certainty that her ability is real. One of the first theories that McGaugh and his colleagues proposed was that she remembered emotionally packed event in her lives. This theory was quickly disproved because she remembered events that really did not have any deep personal meaning like the death of Elvis and a plane crash in Chicago. It is as if AJ keeps a diary in her brain.
A second theory that McGaugh and his colleagues proposed was that she categorized events with those who were in her life at the time and facts so she could remember them better. McGaugh states that this might be true but it does not explain why she remembers it and how much she is able to remember. Researchers do not know exactly why AJ remembers so much but one theory is that her brain is wired differently. Researchers are going to conduct some MRI studies to see just how AJ’s brain works in the following months. AJ’s case is so special that the researchers at Irvine have given her condition a new name “hyperthymestic syndrome.” More research needs to be done in order to truly understand AJ and her condition. What we do know is that AJ’s ability is amazing.
Personally, I would not like to remember all of the events of my life. Imagine remembering all of those embarrassing moments in detail. There are things that are just better off forgotten. I also feel that remembering so many things would be very overwhelming.
The article can be found here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1738881&page=1
1 comment:
Also - maybe we use memory as a litmus test for what is important to us. if we remembered every mundane daily detail, perhaps memory would lose its 'purpose' in indicating or dictating what we should focus on..?
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