it's often said that we are our memories that web of experiences relationships thoughts and feelings that make us who we are we don't remember it all of course that would be impossible or would it there's been a discovery in the field of memory recently so new you won't find it in any textbook so hard to Fathom there are some Who Remain unconvinced for the moment the scientists studying it are simply calling it Superior autobiographical memory and unless you happen to know one of the handful of people discovered so far who have it get ready to be amazed the story will continue in a [Music] moment Louise Owen is 37 years old and a professional violinist living in New York City but she has another gift too one that is far more rare let me give you a date let's say January 2nd 1990 right now I'm remembering the jogging class that I started that morning and you're actually back there I'm I'm I can feel it I can remember the coach saying keep going that was more than 20 years ago when she was 16 a date I picked completely at random as I did this one February 18th 1988 1988 oh you're laughing I'm laughing it was a Thursday I had a big conversation with a friend of mine and that's all I'm going to say Louise says she can remember every day of her life since the age of 11 try to talk us through can you do that how how it works um out of the air April 21st 1991 1991 okay April 21st so in the moment between April 21st and 1991 I have scrolled through 25 April 21sts thinking which one is it going to be which one is it going to be okay 1991 which was a Sunday and I was in Los Angeles and I had a concert with the American Youth Symphony you went to the most important thing that happened that that was the most I mean you probably don't want to hear about you know sort of the day I got up in the morning and I got dressed then you remember that yeah you remember you had for lunch um not what I had for lunch that day but I do remember what I had for dinner the night before so and effortless it just pops in right I mean for me it's almost as automatic as if you say what is your name and where do you live but how do we know that what she says she remembers really happened enter James maau a professor of neurobiology at the University of California Irvine and a renowned expert on memory Dr mcau is the first to discover and study Superior autobiographical memory and he is quizzing Louise his fifth subject to find out an eye condition requires him to wear a clouded lens let's move back in time now to uh 1990 it rained on several days in January and February can you name the dates on which it rained um believe it or not she could let's see it was slightly rainy and cloudy on January 14th 15th was very hot the weekend of the 27th 28th no rain we check the official weather records it rained very hard on Sunday February 4th and she was right Mah says this type of memory is completely new to science so he and his colleagues have had to devise their own tests like this one on public events October 19th 1987 it's a Monday uh that was the day the big stock market crash and the cellist jacqu Lin Du Pre died that day the Berlin Wall falls on what day uh November 9th 1989 which was a Thursday Christopher Reeves accident occurred on what day uh it was Saturday May 27th uh 1995 and when were the Oscars held in 1999 in 1999 Sunday March 21st yes perfect I went to a fabulous Oscar party that day CU these people remember things that you and I couldn't possibly remember and they're not memorizing there's no trick they can do with their memories what you and I can do about yesterday and they can do it every day and they can do it every day and when I ask what what goes on in what goes on in your brain what goes on your mind they give the very unsatisfying response I just see it it's just there the first person ever identified with this ability is Jill Price who says she feels haunted by The NeverEnding stream of memories and hasn't wanted to meet any of the others 40 tomorrow with a chance of snow or rain is next was Brad Williams a radio news anchor and reporter from Lacrosse Wisconsin who isn't bothered by his memory he says it comes in handy at work and playing trivia games I would get 6 7,000 points everybody else would get 1,000 points third was Rick Baron from Cleveland do you remember every movie you've ever seen sure and you remember when lots of television shows started anything movie 60 Minutes Tuesday September 24th 68 the first Sunday show was uh September 19th 71 August 1st 1974 Thursday why do you know that that's my most memorable August 1st why and Bob Petrella I moved to LA that year TV producer and writer who serves as the collective memory and sometimes the evening entertainment for his friends 1996 April 27th which was a Saturday it was a Tuesday no April 27th 96 oh I'm in 93 see it was Saturday everybody else is can't remember anything I have an all my NE and I'm wrong it's not wrong I must confess that when I first heard about this research what surprised me was not that this condition existed but that it was considered so rare that's because it sounded like a description of a friend of mine the actress Mary Lou Henner the star of the hit TV show taxi she lives with her husband and two sons from a prior marriage in Los Angeles hey Mom what day was Valentine's Day in 79 in 1979 um it was a Wednesday and you're right how do you you know you've lived with me your entire life you've never explained how you do that I don't do it I just see it you and I have known each other 25 years I can rattle off almost every single time I've seen you do you remember when we went to Oro the restaurant that was ' 93 oh my gosh that was June 1st the Tuesday and what did we eat I had the salmon cuz I she even remembers what day she first wore many of the shoes in her large and well organized closet like these shoes I wore them October the the first time I wore them October 18th 2007 these I wore on April the 21st of this year so that was a Tuesday um oh these shes I got a long time ago it sure seemed like Superior autobiographical memory to me 1982 and I got them April the 9th so that was a Friday of 1982 we put Mary Lou in touch with Dr mcau hi so nice to meet youim to have her memory officially put to the test there was a session in his office you know when John Lennon was killed yes that was December 8th 1980 and that was a Monday a round of standard memory tests go ahead and put them in the order that they were presented to you the public events quiz Delta Airline flight 191 crashes near Dallas Texas oh I know exactly when that happened because all of a sudden I was at my uh it was August the 2nd of 1985 it was a Friday after 7 hours of grilling October 1st 8th 15th 22nd M and his collaborator neuroscientist Larry Cahill officially anointed Mary Lu Henner Superior autobiographical memory subject number six extremely impressive you really do remember your whole life it's like putting in a DVD and it cues up to a certain place I'm there again so I'm looking out from my eyes and seeing things visually as I would have that day do you remember all your old boyfriend's birthdays I bet you do not only that the date of the first time you know it's like no I remember in order let's have another warm Miami welcome for Mary Len we searched for footage of long ago events in Mary L's life to try and stump her October 26th 1976 okay October 26th 197 1976 was a Tuesday oh I went to uh I went to shoot a ring around the collar commercial in Venice Italy and you saw a second and a half mood shot of Venice and then a Gondolier singing of love I sing TR la la la for you got ring around the LA and I went my powder didn't work I sing more than 30 years later my powder didn't work dead on boy you guys really have drawn up the drags what do you see as the potential in terms of science it could be a new chapter we think we knew a lot and all of a sudden these people come and display a kind of memory we've never seen seen before and we have to say woo what is that about and so we're going to take a look and see if we can figure that out and it could be could be very important so excited to meet you guys one thing Dr maau had not yet done is bring these memory Wizards together so we did and he kicked off a questioning session unlike any other a 7.1 earthquake H the San Francisco Oakland area on 1 19 Tuesday we're watching the game of the World Series oh my gosh are you guys feeling a little competitive with each other I want to make sure that I'm not the duns here I got to keep up when they tell you they know are they always correct I would say over 99% of the time if not 100% of the time if they tell you something and you can check it they're right I've almost given up looking now because okay they're right people go okay what's the trick that's what you get a lot they seem to relish the chance finally to compare notes do you guys ever get ticked at someone and it's something you consider Monumental and for them it's Monumental and then you bring it up and they go I don't remember that how can you forget that I love I love when people get so flattered like they go wow I must have really made an impression on you does it ever freak anybody out people misunderstand it a lot of times they think it's photographic they think it's autistic you know they call you Rainman and I'll just go along with I yeah yeah definitely Friday you know Stu like that it was a question we had are they autistic are they anything like savants I guess the answer is yes and no they're not people who have a extraordinary ability but can't tie their shoe and and that's part of what I think makes this at least so interesting for me is that you have this really remarkable ability in a person who other is otherwise pretty darn normal but what exactly does normal mean when you remember every day of your life when everything good and everything bad that's ever happened to you is right there instantly accessible when you look back at painful memories is it just as raw sometimes it'll be as though it happened yesterday sometimes it's as though it happened last week just the mention of a sad day like the one in 1986 when Louise learned she'd have to change schools and she relives it emotionally I felt like my whole world was collapsing and you say that and it's like all of a sudden I feel like this really heartbroken little 13-year-old all over again you feel it I do feel it Vivid awful yeah is your heart I mean my my heart is actually pounding right now tell this she says her memory is a gift but there are definitely downsides sometimes having this sort of extreme memory can be a very isolating sort of thing there are times when I feel like I'm fluent in a language that nobody else speaks or that I'm walking around and everybody else has Amnesia are there still Skeptics in your field who know what you're up to and just yes Science is based on skepticism and so yes there are Skeptics I suppose if I had not met these people and tested them I would be a skeptic my answer to that is come on over for a day I'll let you meet a few of them and I'd like to see how many of them walk away and say well it's not a big deal no it is a big deal and we need to figure out what it's all about come on in and that work is is already underway Dr maau is doing MRI scans of all the subjects searching for clues that might be hidden in the structure of their brains you all right there yes okay here we go preliminary results from the MRIs are in and the findings are tantalizing and unexpected we'll tell you about that and what this kind of memory has meant for their relationships when we come back