A 16-year-old teenager remembers events from his life from the age of 3 months, and his memory surpasses that of 99.9% of people
Kyiv • UNN
A rare autobiographical memory was discovered in 16-year-old KCL: he remembers events from the age of 3 months. His result surpasses that of 99.9% of people.
Scientists studied a 16-year-old teenager with an extremely rare condition known as highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), which has been identified in fewer than 100 people worldwide. The boy is able to reproduce events from his own life in the finest detail and claims to have memories from as early as 3 months of age, LRT reports, citing ScienceAlert, writes UNN.
Details
To protect his identity, the researchers refer to the teenager as KCL. He said that he has individual memories from approximately 3 months of age and that, from the age of 3, he has remembered events from his life almost continuously.
According to the scientists, some of the boy's earliest memories were confirmed by his parents. Tests also showed that his autobiographical memory is statistically better than that of 99.9% of the population.
Exceptional memory does not work the way one might think
At the same time, the teenager did not demonstrate equally exceptional results in attention, working memory, and executive functions. The researchers note that this is also characteristic of other people with HSAM.
The scientists suggest that the phenomenon does not involve a general enhancement of memory. More likely, the brains of such people have a significantly lower access threshold specifically for autobiographical information and can retrieve the necessary memories more easily.
KCL's parents reported that he developed normally from birth and had no psychological problems or difficulties with learning.