05-12-2008, 11:43 AM
By BARRY WIGMORE
Last updated at 23:30pm on 8th May 2008
Total recall: Jill Price's astonishing memory is 'like a running movie that never stops'
For many it might seem a gift - the ability to recall every detail about every day of your life.
But for Jill Price it is a curse because she cannot switch off her astonishing memory.
Speaking publicly for the first time about her ability, the 42-year-old likened her daily life to a split-screen television - on one side is what she is doing in the present, on the other, the memories which keep flooding back.
They are triggered by everyday things - a song, a smell, something on television. Even a peaceful night's sleep is impossible because the memories keep her awake.
Mrs Price can instantly recall everything about every day since 1980 - what time she got up, who she met, what she did, what she ate. In effect, she is a human diary.
For years she remained anonymous, referred to only by initials in scientific journals while experts tested her ability.
She is so unusual that the scientists at the University of California-Irvine coined a term for her condition - hyperthymestic syndrome from the Greek thymesis, for remembering, and hyper, meaning well above normal.
Mrs Price said her memory started working overtime after her family moved to Los Angeles when she was eight.
And from the time she was 14, in 1980, she can remember absolutely everything.
Neuroscientists say a trauma such as moving the family home can trigger major, lingering changes in the brain, especially in children who cling to memories of how their life had been. Mrs Price said: 'Some memories are good and give me a warm, safe feeling.
"But I also recall every bad decision, insult and excruciating embarrassment. Over the years it has eaten me up. It has kind of paralysed me."
Mrs Price, a widow who works as a school administrator, was so worried by her condition that in 2000 she asked neuroscientist Professor James McGaugh what was wrong.
She wrote to him: "My memory is too strong. It's like a running movie that never stops.
"Most have called it a gift. But I call it a burden.
"I run my entire life through my head every day and it drives me crazy!'
Professor McGaugh was astonished.
He said: "You could give her a date picked at random from years ago and within seconds she'd tell you what day of the week it was, and not only what she did but other key events of the day."
From the age of ten until she was 34, Mrs Price kept a daily diary, which allowed scientists to check events as she remembered them now against what she wrote down at the time.
Mrs Price, who has written a book called The Woman Who Can't Forget, blames her vivid memories for many years of depression.
Since first writing about Mrs Price, Professor McGaugh has discovered five other adults with similar powers and 50 more "possibles".
He said MRI scans indicated their brains were a slightly different shape to normal.
Two other patterns have emerged. Mrs Price and three of the other five are left-handed. And they all collect things: TV guides, old films and theatre programmes - not just drawers, but rooms full.
As the research goes on, Mrs Price keeps remembering - and worrying.
Her biggest fear, she said, is that she might lose her memory.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=564948&in_page_id=1770
Last updated at 23:30pm on 8th May 2008
Total recall: Jill Price's astonishing memory is 'like a running movie that never stops'
For many it might seem a gift - the ability to recall every detail about every day of your life.
But for Jill Price it is a curse because she cannot switch off her astonishing memory.
Speaking publicly for the first time about her ability, the 42-year-old likened her daily life to a split-screen television - on one side is what she is doing in the present, on the other, the memories which keep flooding back.
They are triggered by everyday things - a song, a smell, something on television. Even a peaceful night's sleep is impossible because the memories keep her awake.
Mrs Price can instantly recall everything about every day since 1980 - what time she got up, who she met, what she did, what she ate. In effect, she is a human diary.
For years she remained anonymous, referred to only by initials in scientific journals while experts tested her ability.
She is so unusual that the scientists at the University of California-Irvine coined a term for her condition - hyperthymestic syndrome from the Greek thymesis, for remembering, and hyper, meaning well above normal.
Mrs Price said her memory started working overtime after her family moved to Los Angeles when she was eight.
And from the time she was 14, in 1980, she can remember absolutely everything.
Neuroscientists say a trauma such as moving the family home can trigger major, lingering changes in the brain, especially in children who cling to memories of how their life had been. Mrs Price said: 'Some memories are good and give me a warm, safe feeling.
"But I also recall every bad decision, insult and excruciating embarrassment. Over the years it has eaten me up. It has kind of paralysed me."
Mrs Price, a widow who works as a school administrator, was so worried by her condition that in 2000 she asked neuroscientist Professor James McGaugh what was wrong.
She wrote to him: "My memory is too strong. It's like a running movie that never stops.
"Most have called it a gift. But I call it a burden.
"I run my entire life through my head every day and it drives me crazy!'
Professor McGaugh was astonished.
He said: "You could give her a date picked at random from years ago and within seconds she'd tell you what day of the week it was, and not only what she did but other key events of the day."
From the age of ten until she was 34, Mrs Price kept a daily diary, which allowed scientists to check events as she remembered them now against what she wrote down at the time.
Mrs Price, who has written a book called The Woman Who Can't Forget, blames her vivid memories for many years of depression.
Since first writing about Mrs Price, Professor McGaugh has discovered five other adults with similar powers and 50 more "possibles".
He said MRI scans indicated their brains were a slightly different shape to normal.
Two other patterns have emerged. Mrs Price and three of the other five are left-handed. And they all collect things: TV guides, old films and theatre programmes - not just drawers, but rooms full.
As the research goes on, Mrs Price keeps remembering - and worrying.
Her biggest fear, she said, is that she might lose her memory.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=564948&in_page_id=1770
