The Boy Who Can't Forget

[Hum]

Wedding and birthdays aside, chances are you would not be able to recall exactly what you were doing on any given date in 2006.

But Aurelien Hayman is different.

Not only can he remember what he did, he can tell you what he was wearing, what he ate, what was in the news and even what the weather was like.

The 20-year-old is one of only a handful of people in the world with hyperthymesia, or highly superior autobiographical memory.

Pick any day from his teenage years and he can recall every detail of it ? while most of us will remember no more than 11 events from each year of our life.

Information about conversations he had, programmes he watched and even songs he heard are all part of Aurelien?s astonishing recall.

While Aurelien describes his early childhood memories as ?vague recollections? like everyone else?s, things changed around the age of 11.

He said: ?It?s not something that I realised overnight, but when I was 14 I discovered that I was quite good at remembering some things that had happened years before.?

Now, when asked about the random date of October 1, 2006, for example, Aurelien remembers it was a cloudy Sunday, he listened to the song When You Were Young by The Killers, and he had asked out a girl but been turned down.

Not only that, but he recalls that on the Saturday he was wearing a blue t-shirt and saw the girl who would later rebuff him in the city centre of his native Cardiff, and that on the Thursday there was a power cut at his home.

Only 20 people in the world have been diagnosed with hyperthymesia, and it is believed Aurelien is the only Briton.

The average person retrieves information such as dates from their long-term memory in the right frontal lobe of the brain.

Aurelien does the same, but his long-term memory capacity is increased because he also uses the left frontal lobe, which normally deals with language, and occipital areas at the back of the brain, normally used for storing pictures.

And all of this seems to happen subconsciously. He said: ?There?s no method or technique to it. I?m not aware that my memories are being coded.

more

[CG-88]

I read about that this morning in the metro. It explained about another person who has this and it said her memory ruled her life and forced for to relive decisions and doubt herself a lot. I don't think I would like to have this.

[Panda X]

I would both love and hate to have that.

[FMH]

He would do well in school...

[Arpit]

imagine not being able to forget tragic events :/

but really cool otherwise

[remixedcat]

I read about that this morning in the metro. It explained about another person who has this and it said her memory ruled her life and forced for to relive decisions and doubt herself a lot. I don't think I would like to have this.

I have this. I remember very detailed about everything. Even bad events that happened at school and stuff... very painful.... I even know what songs played around those events and I refuse to listen to em... won't disclose those tho.

Makes me doubt myself a lot as well... sucks sometimes... sure... i can take them off my mind sometimes, however I still remember them very well...

[cut]

I have this. I remember very detailed about everything. Even bad events that happened at school and stuff... very painful.... I even know what songs played around those events and I refuse to listen to em... won't disclose those tho.

Makes me doubt myself a lot as well... sucks sometimes... sure... i can take them off my mind sometimes, however I still remember them very well...

Doubt you officially have this condition.

[remixedcat]

Doubt you officially have this condition.

I doubt if you really know me....

[t_r_nelson]

Probably the most famous person to have this is Marilu Henner from the 70s televison show Taxi. She's been on several talk show programs talking about this and the ups and downs of having this kind of memory.

[DrJohnSmitherson]

House did it!

I think in House he determined it was OCD. (i realize it's fictional :p )

[Growled Member]

That would really suck. Sometimes it's best for us if tragic events are sort of fuzzy and blurry for us.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

Documentary is on tomorrow night.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-boy-who-cant-forget/episode-guide/series-1/episode-1

[Detection]

This is on TV in the UK tomorrow (Tuesday 25 September 9PM Channel 4)

http://www.channel4....ies-1/episode-1

I would hate it, I wish I could erase many years of memories I already have, let alone everything I ever did in my entire life

EDIT - ^^ Ninja'd ^^

[McKay]

I was once offered by a Genie the choice between an enormous and a perfect memory, I forgot what I chose.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I was once offered by a Genie the choice between an enormous and a perfect memory, I forgot what I chose.

:laugh: Look down I would say no?

[Chris123NT]

I was once offered by a Genie the choice between an enormous and a perfect memory, I forgot what I chose.

:laugh: hard decision right there.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I have this. I remember very detailed about everything. Even bad events that happened at school and stuff... very painful.... I even know what songs played around those events and I refuse to listen to em... won't disclose those tho.

Makes me doubt myself a lot as well... sucks sometimes... sure... i can take them off my mind sometimes, however I still remember them very well...

What posts did you reply to on January 3rd, 2011?

That is the type of memory they are referring to, I saw a segment on 60 minutes about it.

If you can tell us that, without cheating and looking it up, okay maybe you are 1 of the 20 people.

[remixedcat]

What posts did you reply to on January 3rd, 2011?

That is the type of memory they are referring to, I saw a segment on 60 minutes about it.

If you can tell us that, without cheating and looking it up, okay maybe you are 1 of the 20 people.

I don't think I was very active then... I know that I was very irritated, but I discovered some new house artists (just dance 2012 has some really good tracks and that's when I got it) I also listened to some internet radio and discovered 2 new trance artists I liked. and I just got my new windows server 2008 install recovered ( explorer.exe had repeated crashes. It was kinda cold that day and I was relaly mad I was out of cocoa so I drank coffee but I spilled it all over myself and I was mad and in turn I goofed up on something on cpanel on a server I had... however I got it fixed 2 hours later. then I had lasagna and played minecraft but java crashed, then my mom called and we had to go to clarksburg, wv for a job the next day.... I had a stessful day so I'm sorry I didn't remember much post related stuff.

oh and I wore a totally awesome outfit that got coffee spillt on it it was a black hoodie i had it washed asap tho

[Raa]

I heard about an American woman that had this ability, it was amazing.

Of course, there's no way to verify this condition, so i'll take it with a grain of salt personally...

[Shane Nokes]

January 3, 2011:

I can't go into many specifics due to confidentiality agreements, but I was working that day. I remember the specific cases I handled, the e-mails I had to reply to. I remember what I had streaming on Netflix on one monitor while I was doing work on the other. I remember walking home that night (technically the 4th) and grabbing some buffalo chicken rollers, brownies, and milk from 7-Eleven.

I remember it being a slow walk sort of night...being really tired, and falling asleep to Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory once I was home. I remember chatting with my mom on the phone on the walk home, and that I was dealing with a crappy Droid R2D2 model that was causing me some problems and I was not happy about it. Worst phone I ever owned I can pretty safely say... :(

[SuperKid]

His brain must eventually explode like seriously, wow. Incredible to remember everything!

[Farstrider]

I have this. I remember very detailed about everything. Even bad events that happened at school and stuff... very painful.... I even know what songs played around those events and I refuse to listen to em... won't disclose those tho.

Makes me doubt myself a lot as well... sucks sometimes... sure... i can take them off my mind sometimes, however I still remember them very well...

Only 20 people in the world have been diagnosed with hyperthymesia, and it is believed Aurelien is the only Briton.

You must be the 21st person with this condition that has not been diagnosed yet! You should go to a specialist and have it confirmed!

Doubt you officially have this condition.

.......

[remixedcat]

I have damn good memory almost like that but not formally diagnosed with that condition.

I remember stuff from age 3

[Shane Nokes]

I have damn good memory almost like that but not formally diagnosed with that condition.

I remember stuff from age 3

Same here. I actually have full recollections of train rides I took to California, what family we visited down there, and of games that I played while visiting those family members.

I've even verified those recollections with family members.

[remixedcat]

ha ha.... does anyone here remember having a scary experience at chuckecheese.... that's one of my first memories i have ... the animitronics scared me so i screamed bloody murder and threw my cup at one and we got kicked out...