Woman cannot erase painful memories because ... superhuman memory

If asked about the first memories of life, many people will give a vague answer about a birthday party at a young age or some childhood experiences are unclear. It may be clichéd or just imaginative, and certainly completely inaccurate.

In fact these are extremely normal things when images in human memory tend to fade over time. There will be some memories that we remember from childhood that will not be reliable.

However, it is everyone's memory, and for Rebecca Sharrock , the person with superhuman memory syndrome (aka HSAM) is an exception. This syndrome allows a person to recall all or most of their life time accurately. Especially people with HSAM syndrome have a huge brain capacity, like a giant cabinet, can put information into the numbered compartments by day, and it is getting thicker, never forgetting.

Rebecca can remember memories when she was 12 days old.

She could recall every day of her life since she was a newborn. Every dream, pain or feeling of tasting food, Rebecca deeply remembered. She told Unilad how this supernatural memory syndrome affected her life. Rebecca told me about her first memories: " I remember my mother putting me in the front seat in the car, taking a picture for me, that day I was born 12 days. Those are the first memories. First, I remember it every day, some may not remember the specific day, because I was too young at the time, I could not remember the date, but I could remember the day it was made what, weather like ".

Rebecca may not remember the date but she can remember every single detail in that situation.

These are just initial examples. Rebecca added, she could remember other memories like being in a crib (probably in the hospital as well), or when she was in the bedroom, she was sucked into a standing fan. right next to it, this developed an impulse in her wanting to get up and discover them. It is good that Rebecca is able to recount the entire collection of Harry Potter books she has ever seen.

On her first birthday in her life, Rebecca did not realize what day it was, all she remembered was that her mother was wearing a satin outfit that made her itch and she cried. Rebecca said: "People told me that this was a special day and at that time many people came to visit me. After that I stopped crying, that day my parents gave me a toy that was Minnie Mouse. In velvet, however, his face scared me and I couldn't speak. All I could do was cry and push it out. "

Rebecca and her sister.

By the second birthday, the family had a new member, Rebecca had a younger sister. She said that it was impossible to understand what it would be like to be an older sister. In the following years, Rebecca gradually realized that she was not the only child in the house, but she still shared clothes and toys with her sister.

Rebecca said that she did not know her memory was abnormal, she thought that at such a age the child would be the same, but later found out that it was a rare syndrome. According to statistics, there are only 80 people in the world with detailed memory images or superhuman memories like Rebecca. Many people admired Rebecca's memory but in fact, this syndrome caused quite a lot of trouble for her. Too much memory makes Rebecca's brain somewhat overwhelmed, leading to insomnia.

Remembering too many things in the past made Rebecca melancholy.

In particular, when recalling old stories, her mood was overwhelmed by emotions, often immersed in old stories. For the pain that she experienced as a child when she was injured, Rebecca felt sad. Even Rebecca limited to watching news on television or sad things because she feared that images would always haunt the mind, could not forget but always remember little by little.

Rebecca, who now lives in Queensland, has experienced how she must live with HSAM. Because of carrying such a superhuman memory, Rebecca's emotions live with both happy and sad memories. This causes her to become autistic and anxious. Rebecca said that when she was in school, she was self-contained and isolated from everyone. Later, when she returned to her old school to attend her sister's graduation ceremony, the sad memories she had experienced in this school appeared clearly and made her cry and leave.

In 2011, Rebecca knew she had superhuman memory syndrome.

Before that, Rebecca had been diagnosed with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder due to her abnormal memory. In 2011, Rebecca's mother accidentally discovered her daughter's illness after watching a science program on television, and from there Rebecca knew what was wrong with her. Currently, although it was difficult, Rebecca was learning to bury the sad and forged memories for the mind not affected by those memories.

She said: "Living with the memories of the past and the present has made my life disturbed." At the age of adulthood, Rebecca is practicing openly about life experiences, regularly answering people's questions on Twitter, attending talks at many organizations to explain and share. my own life experience.

Besides, Rebecca is currently involved in two memory studies in an effort to find answers about how the human brain works. Rebecca said: "The only purpose when I participate in experimental activities is for researchers to be able to find out the correct answer on how the brain works, thereby hoping to find any. anything to help people with dementia and Alzheimer's disease ". In addition, Rebecca wrote her own book about her life experiences entitled "My Life is a Puzzle".