Decode the phenomenon that cannot forget memories

After years of research, neuroscientists believe that the index is easy to imagine and absorb is the solution to the phenomenon of not forgetting memories.

According to the BBC, for most people, memories like a notebook, a mess of photos of moments in life. And even the deepest memories can fade away over time.

However, if you ask Nima Veiseh about any day in the past 15 years, he will give you details of everything, how the weather is, what day to wear clothes, or even sit on Any party on the train to work.

"My memory is like a VHS tape library, recording every activity in the day, from waking up to going to bed," he explained.

Veiseh could even tell the start of this possibility: December 15, 2000, when he met his first girlfriend at his best friend's 16th birthday party. Previously, his memory was very good but the thrill of youthful love seemed to activate this ability . "I can tell you everything in any day after that day."

Price remembers every detail in her diary.(Photo: iStock).

People like Veiseh are the subject of research by neuroscientists, hoping to understand the brain mechanism that records life. And this study can also suggest ways for all people to remember the past better.

Super memory

Super-memory phenomenon - abbreviated HSAM was known in the early 2000s. A young woman named Jill Price emailed the neurologist and studied Jim McGaugh's memory at the University of California, USA. In the letter, Price said that she could recall every day of her life since she was 12 and asked for an explanation.

Curious, McGaugh invited her to his lab, and began experimenting: give her a random day and ask her to talk about world events that day. True to the words in the letter, she answered correctly most days.

Price also has a diary that records events that happened to her during that time. When the researchers examined her memory of the diary, she was also right. After several years of research, they continued to give her a spontaneous test: "Record every day of the visits to the lab" . Very quickly, she made a list. When McGaugh and his colleagues compared their notes, it was completely accurate.

Thanks to the media's interest later, a series of similar cases (including Veiseh) contacted the University of California research team. On one test, Veiseh even corrected the day that Michael Phelps won the 2008 Olympic gold medal when scientists were mistaken.

However, the interesting thing is , the memory of these people has a very high concentration . Although they can remember life events with unusual details, memory of objective information is no better than ordinary people, such as a random word list, or a memory of a Short time has just taken place.

"Sometimes, I don't remember what happened five minutes ago, but I can remember a detail from January 22 , 2008, " an unnamed person said.

And even with good memory, they have the same disadvantages as everyone else: "wrong memories" , memories of events that never really happened.

Obviously, there is no so-called "perfect" memory - their extraordinary minds still have the same mistakes as others. The question is, what is that memory formation mechanism?

Craig Stark, University of California hypothesizes that HSAM objects after receiving a memory will immediately encode it in detail to put it into memory. After a few months, while that memory for most of us faded, it was still like them to them.

"There must be something that helps them store information different from ordinary people , " Stark said. "However, research on brain scans does not show the cause of the difference."

"It's not like they have some extra lobes or hemispheres," Stark said. It is true that the brains of these people have a number of different characteristics, such as having additional nerves between the frontal lobes (taking part in analytical thinking) and the hippocampus that looks towards the side of the skull , the area is said to carry out the "printing " process of memories . But these differences can also come from learning and practicing a new skill, such as music, sports, or language. These processes can make the brain build a neural network more efficiently.

"It's like the egg and chicken problem , " Stark said.

Main reason

The main reason seems to be in habits and ways of thinking . Patihis recently tested 20 HSAM objects and found that they had a high level of fantasy proneness and absorption . Fantasy proneness is a trend of fantasy and daydreaming, absorption involves a tendency to concentrate all feelings and experience a certain memory.

"I am extremely sensitive to sound, taste and detail images," said Nicole Donohue, who has been involved in many research studies. "I certainly feel things are stronger than ordinary people."

Absorption helps them establish a solid foundation for a flashback, according to Patihis. Fantasy proneness helps them review memories in the brain weekly and monthly afterwards. Each time, the original memory becomes stronger in memory.

For ordinary people, this process usually takes place on a few special occasions with big events, such as wedding days. The difference is that HSAM objects are able to do this every day of their entire life.

According to Patihis, there must be something to enable this ability, develop the trend of fantasy into HSAM. He thinks that must make them think more about the past.

"Maybe some experience in their childhood makes them obsessed with the calendar and the events that happen ". For example, Veiseh knew that his HSAM began when meeting his first girlfriend, but could not explain why it was this event.

Some of Stark's colleagues are hoping to be able to apply HSAM to help ordinary people improve their memory. A recent study showed that just imagine repeating the event that happened in the head a few times, will increase recall after a few weeks.

For some people, like Veiseh, this ability is like a luck. He traveled a lot, visiting many local art galleries. His artistic love was helped by exceptional memory ability. The drawings that were viewed are imprinted in the mind.

" Imagine you can clearly remember every picture in the galleries of nearly 40 countries," he said, "in itself a great lesson on art." With the amount of encyclopedic knowledge about this art history, he has since become a professional painter. Similarly, this memory also supports him in other jobs such as a doctoral student in technology and design, through being able to absorb a huge amount of knowledge.

Veiseh remembers every picture in every gallery seen.(Photo: iStock).

Donohue is currently a history teacher, also agreeing that this ability helps a lot.

"I can certainly remember what I learned on certain days at school. I can imagine what the teacher said or what the writing in the book looks like."

However, at the same time, it also brings many troubles, when it is very difficult to overcome pain or regret.

"It's hard to forget shameful moments , " said Donohue.

"Those memories and emotions are always fresh, there is no way to forget them, no matter how hard you try . " Veiseh agreed. "It's like having an open wound on people."

For people like Donohue or Veiseh, they often have to use other ways to take a break, such as seeing unpleasant memories as experiences so as not to repeat the same mistake. Veiseh said that this situation made him more lenient than others.

"Some people say: forgive and forget, but forgetting me is a luxury, I have to forgive myself. Not only to forgive others, but also to forgive myself."