Elias Veroni

PSY-1010-F17
Campbell
10/15/2017

Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

Memory is of great importance in the realm of physiology. There are vast amounts of

research that has been conducted on different method of memorization, recollection, and bulk

loads of other memorial subjects. What this report will be focusing on is just one region of the

spectrum of memory that is extremely new this area in physiology by which I mean that this

subject has only been under research for less than one hundred years. This subject which Im

referring to is Hyperthymesia Syndrome or also known as Highly Superior Autobiographical

Memory (HSAM).

This syndrome per say has had scientist baffled, and only recently have we had

researchers try to get to understand these individuals with such great talent. Individuals that are

found to have HSAM have the ability to recall with accuracy and extreme detail of past personal

and world event, so detailed that they could even pin point dates, time, even the weather at a

given memory. These individuals could/can recollect events on a daily basis. Most of these gifted

individuals tend to start recollecting from around the age where they reach full cognitively as a

child meaning between the ages of 5-7. HASM as stated earlier has only recently been brought to

light by research. The first if so associated case study or article that brought up anything to do

with superior autobiographical memory was in the early 2000, before that there wasnt much on

the subject and there still isnt. Its in the so call research and development field of study.

So who are these individuals that exhibit HSAM? The answer to this question is simple,

they are humans like you or I, so that leads to the next question. What make an individual be able

to be identified as someone with HSAM? New light has been casted on this question and new
recent research has been able to be accessed, this new study posted on the Neurobiology of

Learning and Memory journal helps us pin point what makes these individuals different. The

study was conducted in 2012, The study had created a process in which individuals who thought

they were inhibiting HSAM would call and be put through a series of tests. Out of the original

115 callers they, 41 of the adults scored well enough to pass to the next phase of testing. Out of

the 41 only 11 made it to the lab. All pre and post research was collected by the University of

California. After being interviewed these 11 subjects where put thought another handful off test,

This time more elaborate.

Out of all the test they ran, the ones that stood out where their Obsessive tendencies, and

Structural MRI. There results for these sections showed for their obsessive tendencies that Nine

of the eleven HSAM participants reported that they hoard items, need organization in their

physical environment, and/or are germ-avoidant. These reported behaviors included a need to

organize childhood toys, CD collections, movie collections, and/or articles of clothing in a

precise and/or complicated order. They described their excessive collections of stuffed animals,

newspapers, TV guides, CDs, mugs, and/or hats, along with an inability to discard these items.

They expressed aversions to touching public doorknobs, restaurant utensils, items that are near or

have touched the ground, and/or a need to wash their hands excessively. (Leport, et al., 2012)

With Structural MRI testing they ran VBM-GM (Voxel-Based Morphometry- Gray Matter) and

DTI-FA (Diffusion Tensor Imaging Fractional Anisotropy) alongside other imaging

techniques. With VBM-GM and DTI-FA there were things that clearly stood out about subjects

that exhibit HSAM. Once the imaging test were conducted results should that for the VBM-GM

that 4 regions stood out A higher GM concentration was detected in the vicinity of the right

anterior putamen and caudate surrounding the anterior limb of the internal capsule (ROI 5) and
in the right posterior pallidum (ROI 6). A relative lower GM concentration was found for

bilateral regions of the anterior pole and the adjacent middle temporal gyrus on both sides (ROI

7) and bilateral regions at the banks of the intraparietal sulcus on both sides (ROI 9). (Laport, et

al., 2012) With this being started the DTF-FA found 5 regions as to where white matter varied

form the control group.

As the first study came to a conclusion, another study trying to understand what is

different about HSAM individuals arose titled Individual Differences and Correlates of Highly

Superior Autobiographical Memory. This study was conducted in 2015 by Lawrence Patihis.

Patihis gives us many hypotheses in his paper of which Emotional-Arousal and Imaginative-

Absorption where of interest. study involved 20 individuals and 38 gender matching control

group. Once the test was completed results showed that results demonstrate some support for

the imaginative absorption hypothesis, and weaker evidence for the emotional-arousal and sleep

hypotheses. Regarding the imaginative-absorption hypothesis, absorption and the tendency to

fantasy both were reliably higher in HSAM participants compared to controls. This initial result

suggested that tendencies to become absorbed into new experiences and to be prone to vivid

imaginative episodes, tendencies previously associated with memory errors, could actually have

a beneficial effect on one type memory.(Patihis 2015). Over all the studies show that there is

some sort of correlation in individuals that exhibit HSAM in contrast to those who dont.

Since this is a new subject that we have been become aware of in the last decade, People

havent been exposed to much of the information found. HSAM is not a deadly virus or

something that can affect us on a daily basis, but for those individuals it might be a nightmare

not being able to forget what they see. In particular occasions where we chose to repress

memories. This was brought up in a show I really like name Superstore. In the show we are
introduced to a cast member who suffers from remembering everything or HSAM, she is a happy

individual but sometimes recollects on how she cant forget anything and how she sometimes

wishes she wouldnt remember. For most of us we would most likely view this as a great gift,

trust me I would do anything to be able to remember all the answerers on the test. What we

neglect to see is that these people could potentially be suffering. Traumatic experiences which

most of us have the ability to zone out or per say forget, they dont get this they can relive that

day forever.

To sum up everything, Memory is a great thing to have, the ability to learn and retain

information is a mysterious realm of study, as the field of people with HSAM continues to be

studied, hopefully we will be able to understand more about these individual and their memory.

The research provided to us can be very influential on try to help identify people with this ability,

and maybe once we can truly understand the benefits of it, we can put them into play for certain

jobs that these people could do. Virtually these people could be or are just like supercomputers.

A question that hopefully someday will be answer is, is there a genetic marker that leads to the

development of HSAM? and if so Can we alter it in our own DNA? Making us a better species.

Figuring out that you might be a candidate of HSAM is the best way this topic can help out

individual at the moment. I wish there were more focus on these individuals and one day

hopefully we can truly understand them.

Leport, A. K., Mattfeld, A. T., Dickinson-Anson, H., Fallon, J. H., Stark, C. E., Kruggel, F., . . . Mcgaugh, J. L.
(2012). Behavioral and neuroanatomical investigation of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory
(HSAM). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 98(1), 78-92. Available at:
http://nexthumanproject.com/references/Super_Memory.pdf {10/14/2017}

Patihis, L. (2015). Individual differences and correlates of highly superior autobiographical memory.
Memory, [online] 24(7), pp.961-978. Available at:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/39326846/inpress.Patihis.CorrelatesHSAM.wSI.pd
f?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1508036807&Signature=5g6u%2B0BSytaCDbll7
zxYcXC7eRA%3D&response-content-
disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DPatihis_L._in_press_._Individual_differe.pdf {10/14/2017}