beyond the fun of asking what happened on August 16th 1983 and knowing you'll actually get an answer there is a lot at stake here the discovery of people with instant access to virtually every day of their lives could recast our whole understanding of how human memory works and what's possible and that has implications for all of us is it possible we all have memories of every day tucked away in our brains but we just can't retrieve them could understanding these remarkable people someday help with Alzheimer's and other memory disorders scientists tell us the potential is enormous but the inquiry is just beginning the first step look at and try to figure out what might be going on inside their brains the story will continue in a moment we watched as the first MRI images of Louise Owen's brain appeared on the screen the hope is that somewhere in these pictures and measurements will lie the first clue that might explain what makes her memory so extraordinary you find anything good we'll find out what did you think you were going to find and then what did you find well if you want the honest truth the honest truth is that I thought I bet we'll find nothing oh right I mean it's kind of like figuring that you know if you open Einstein's brain there's going to be some huge lobe that says genius you know you don't you don't find stuff like that but Dr kale was wrong no flashing genius loes but they did find parts of the brain that were significantly larger in people with Superior autobiographical memory than in control subjects of matched age and gender this would be a person looking this way he brought along a model of a brain to show us there's two areas that are jumping out at us the first is this area over here called the temporal lobe and this area is quite a bit bigger now that's intriguing because this is the the chunk of brain neurobiologists think has to do with storing new memories so not a surprise not a surprise there more interesting he says is a second region deep inside the brain called the cadate nucleus which scientists believe is involved in what's called habit or skill learning and also in obsessive compulsive disorder can you give us an analogy of how much larger these sections are a lot larger perhaps up to seven or eight what's called standard deviations larger than normal to understand what that means if a man was seven or eight standard deviations taller than the height of the average man he'd be 10t tall so we have some potentially whopping effects Giants Giants now they need to figure out why we have the chicken egg problem do they have these larger brain regions because they have exercised it a lot or do they have good memories because because these are larger because these are larger and what about the fact that the cod8 nucleus is thought to be involved in obsessive compulsive disorder the scientists think there may just be a hint there and exhibit a is mar Lou Henner's closet I love organization I like my shoes a certain way right foot going this way left foot going that way so you can always see the toe and the heel on every pair and you'll see that things are very color coordinated here but in sections and I always hang like with like and I have the exact same hangers because then everything slides more easily all of them have what we think of as OCD like behaviors they love to collect things they have to have things in just the right order what about phobias this hypochondria account is like oh I hope I don't get this I hope I don't get that this season you have a little germa I I wash hands frequently yeah so do I in fact I dropped my keys when I was in a hurry driving down here and I went all right now so I went back in and I like R I washed them I yeah I do that all the time if I drop them can you conclude there's a connection or or we're still way too early because it's showing up in one fashion or another in all of them I'd say it's our biggest clue and when you think about it they even seem to look for ways to organize their Memories the thing that is most pleasurable is categorizing any event any time I went bowling in my life any wedding you lived starting as a six-year-old sometimes what I do is I'll go back July 14th as far back as I can remember I just go July 14th 67 that happened and then maybe I won't remember 68 but I remember 69 and 70 or you remember around 68 but do you all do that Louise even compares dates I'll scroll all the way back to 1985 we like well which were better March 3's or March 4th's a year ago two years ago three years ago and go all the way back it's it's sort of like mental gymnastics there's a certain irony to the fact that it is Dr maau Who is studying this phenomenon because he is known in the field of memory for discoveries these people seem to defy his work with rats like this one that doesn't know there's a platform hidden below the surface of this water tank prove the role of adrenaline in making strong Memories the rat swims around the edge then eventually Ventures out and by chance bumps into the platform the next next day he'll find it just a little bit faster but watch this rat that learned where the platform was yesterday then received a shot of adrenaline immediately afterward notice that it starts out not on the edge oh there you go oh that's impressive adrenaline actually made this rat's brain remember better and Mah says the same thing happens in people when we experience something emotional positive or negative our bodies release adrenaline searing those memories into our brains more strongly what can you and I do right now to make sure we remember this conversation I could kick you yeah or I could embarrass you most of my research is with laboratory rats and suppose I said all of a sudden oh and I'm going to demonstrate to you and I drop about six rats right at your feet I'd remember believe me I'd remember remember excuse me don't don't sit on her lap excuse me you're not supposed to be there uh I think you'd remember that now the people that you're we're meeting now yes they wouldn't need those rats and that's what's so baffling these people do remember the ordinary non-emotional events the rest of us routinely forget lots of sports fans can remember highlights from particularly exciting games Bob Petrella a Pittsburgh Steelers fan remembers every game when was the last time the Redskins beat the Steelers H let's see they play played him in 2004 and the Steelers won they played him in 2000 the Steelers we sat there as he scanned back through 19 seasons in 19 seconds oh in ' 91 in uh yeah they played in 91 November 17th 1991 we tried even further back what were the last two games in October of 1979 let's see uh the 22nd they paid uh Denver on Monday night and I think they won 42 to7 yep and then they played oh then they played Dallas on uh October 28th Sunday was on CBS so you can get that game Pittsburgh Pennsylvania we did we got that game and 31 years later he was able to describe plays stach was scrambling and Elsa greenw just slammed right into him it was in the fourth quarter starback really took a shot he was hit by Greenwood he even remembered specific images from the broadcast I remember starback just sitting on the bench you could just tell he was out of it how about November 11th 1990 they didn't play that was a buy you're good that was a trick question no I I remember that day cuz I was I was I I was depressed I had broken up with this woman and I was going out there to run a couple videos and I was thinking about her there's a quote that I love it's by the great psychologist William James he said if we remembered everything we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing and that's what the field of memory has always considered a given that a healthy dose of forgetting is crucial to our ability to think you abstract and generalize in part because you forget uh when you have a trip to work uh and you have the same trip every day you abstract and you generalize a typical trip to work because you don't remember every single detail of every single trip so a little forgetting is needed to help you abstract and generalize well that's what I always thought until I met your five subjects today do you ever get the feeling that all these memories are cluttering up your mind but it's just too much up there and I need to sweep this away it's organized you know what I mean it's organized so it's called on when you need it but it's not like they're like oh they're coming in all the time and it's not overwheling surprising thing is that the people don't appear to have cluttered brains they can pull out the right information at the right time and that's the puzzle it's the real puzzle that's the puzzle it kind of takes everything we've all assumed scientists and Ordinary People and said come on guys rethink it yeah got to do some rethinking but that's that's fun that's that's part of the fun part of science this is where the saliva goes and they're pursuing every Avenue they can DNA testing to see if there are differences in their genetic makeup handedness testing since all three men are lefties to see if that yields any clues well which way would you cartwheel I mean could you imagine going this way or could you imagine I want to do c Wheels the inquiry is just getting started with six willing subjects eager to see where it all will lead and who knows how many more still out there I've always loved having this memory I feel as an actress and as a writer it's been indispensable as a mother as a wife certainly why do you say that oh my gosh cuz you can never lose an argument no you didn't say that I said this you know you said this yeah but maybe he doesn't like it so much I know yeah well probably why I'm on my third yeah which raises a real question since Mary Lou is the only one of the six subjects who is married or has children you would think that in a in Romance M it can be tricky yeah it can be tricky I think so breakups must be horrible horrible because you cannot not remember right I find it intriguing that four out of five of you are not married and as far as I'm aware are not in a relationship do you all think there's a problem having this memory and having a good relationship I like to think it's coincidence you're going to remember everything you're going to win every argument although I think it's you know it's what you do with it I mean I try not to be defined by this and she says for the most part she succeeds overall is it a good thing are you glad you have this I am you are I am I mean sure there are times when it's difficult but I feel like it makes me live my life with so much more intention and so much more joy like what do you mean more intention because I know that I'm going to remember whatever happens today it's like all right what can I do to make today significant what can I do that is going to make today stand out as you watch these remarkable people and as you think back on uh say my three children how little I can actually remember when they were four five six you start to wonder why are we the default State why are we normal and they're the unusual ones why didn't we evolve such that we most of us are like them and we're the unusual ones who can hardly remember anything just makes you [Music] wonder go to 60 Minutes overtime.com to hear the unforgettable story about how the memory piece was made