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Marilu Henner Remembers Every Day of Her Life (Superior Autobiographical Memory)
CBS News ^ | 12/20/2010 | staff

Posted on 12/20/2010 5:24:01 PM PST by Kid Shelleen

Can you imagine remembering every single day of your life?

That's what actress Marilu Henner says she can do.

On "The Early Show" Monday, Henner -- one of only six people recognized in the world as having a rare gift called superior autobiographical memory -- explained what life is like remembering every day of her life. Henner and others with the same ability were profiled Sunday on "60 Minutes."

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: autobiographical; mariluhenner; memories; memory; recall; totalrecall
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1 posted on 12/20/2010 5:24:03 PM PST by Kid Shelleen
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To: Kid Shelleen

Or she just think she does.


2 posted on 12/20/2010 5:26:20 PM PST by MIchaelTArchangel (Obama makes me miss Jimmah Cahtah!)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Some days are meant to be forgotten.


3 posted on 12/20/2010 5:30:10 PM PST by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good WOMAN (Sgt. Kimberly Munley) with a gun)
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To: MIchaelTArchangel
Or she just think she does.

No, the people that are recognized as having autobiographical memories are real.

They've been tested, and remember things that can be verified, like events that can be found in newspaper archives.

4 posted on 12/20/2010 5:32:34 PM PST by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good WOMAN (Sgt. Kimberly Munley) with a gun)
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To: justlurking
They've been tested, and remember things that can be verified,

I saw that and it was truly amazing what those folks are able to remember........

5 posted on 12/20/2010 5:35:36 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (There's only one cure for Obamarrhea......)
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To: justlurking

It must be some memory, didn’t she sleep with all her costars?

From the article, she mostly remembered dates of events.


6 posted on 12/20/2010 5:36:55 PM PST by Williams (It's the policies, stupid.)
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To: Hot Tabasco; justlurking; MIchaelTArchangel; The Comedian

So, you’ve met my wife I see.......


7 posted on 12/20/2010 5:37:49 PM PST by onona (dbada)
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To: Kid Shelleen
How hard is it to remember this:
My Life. I was a hottie on "Taxi." The end.
?

anyways, how about some pics? FR used to have rules about these things.

8 posted on 12/20/2010 5:40:24 PM PST by the invisib1e hand (oy. Again I say, oy.)
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To: Kid Shelleen; BillyBoy; Perdogg; Impy; GOPsterinMA

I remember when she was on Bob Costas’ old Later show and he tested her and pulled a date out of his head... the day the astronauts landed on the moon, July 20, 1969, and she said it was the day she lost her virginity... in the shower. Ole Bob wasn’t expecting THAT response.


9 posted on 12/20/2010 5:43:45 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Wonder if she remembers her real name? - Mary Lucy Denise Pudlowski.


10 posted on 12/20/2010 5:45:33 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: MIchaelTArchangel

Unfortunately, I have an unusual memory as well. I remember everything like it was 5 minutes ago and remember the times things happened but not exact dates like those people last night did. I remember conversations I had with my sister since the age of 3. I remember every wrong and every right done to me since then by family, friends, boyfriends. I remember every teacher of every grade, every friend. I do not do well with memorization from books in education but remember books read for pleasure and can quote them 25 years later. When flying, I remember passengers I flew to a destination and surprise them when they are headed home by telling them the seat they had, the drink they had and even what they were wearing when I saw them a week before. I remember every minute of the surprise party my parents gave me when I turned 5 and what songs were played. (They were into Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Karen Carpenter,)

It is good but bad. Like one of the people said last night, you remember every awful thing that happened to you like it was yesterday. And I do. The pain of illnesses and deaths of relatives and friends, being cheated on or lied to- it never fades. But, on the flip side, the wonderful moments and times in my life stay brand new as well.


11 posted on 12/20/2010 5:48:48 PM PST by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: Cowgirl of Justice

I remember Barry Farber telling about his memory. Said he could remember when he walked standing up under the table and didn’t touch it. He couldn’t talk yet but he remembers it all very well. I can’t remember diddley!


12 posted on 12/20/2010 5:52:16 PM PST by GrannyK
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To: Hot Tabasco
A more widespread phenomenon is to remember printed pages, or precise conversations or debates that took place over several days ~ or even years.

You access things pretty much the way Ms. Henner does ~ and as you dig down ~ more like "drift down" through it ~ you see it.

People who write extensive bodies of regulations or laws usually have access to someone who can do this ~ frequently they can do it themselves.

Just like a DVD the scenes pop up that are associated with the rules, etc., and you can look around to see who was there and report back on who said what and what the arguments were.

Henner's thing is more detailed since it's like she has the dates associated with the material. The rule writers link up more with the structural development or etiology of the rule development than with outside references like dates.

Frankly I gave up trying to remember it all when I was about 10 or 11 years of age. Used to reflect on all my memories working my way backward to the age of 4 when there'd be a big skip over to 2 ~ there is no age 3 in my own structure, so I wouldn't make it in any sort of competition with Henner.

The amount of energy expended making the reviews to keep current, and arrange coherent links must be incredible. One of my cousins at 2 removes does something like Henner does ~ but she focuses on marriages and divorces in the United States ~ all of them. She's not terribly well structured beyond that. Bill Clinton had met me about 1973. One day I saw him at the Jerry's Pizza on US 1 in Alexandria (in Fairfax county) as I was driving down the road in my van. I looked over just as he looked at me (while he was stroking the breasts of a hooker he'd gotten pinned up against a black pick up he'd borrowed) and waved like he knew me.

Simply amazing. BTW, that was back in 1992 when the Democrats rented a partially completed office building a few blocks away just over Beacon Hill to use for their Presidential Campaign headquarters.

I am sure Bill remembers that moment as clearly as anything Ms. Henner can remember.

Bill will never be in her class of half a dozen people because much of his material is UNSTRUCTURED, or simply organized relationally to women he's dealt with one way or the other.

13 posted on 12/20/2010 5:55:03 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: Cowgirl of Justice

Amazing.

How do you manage to stay quiet at, say, parties or reunions when people resurrect events that they don’t remember quite correctly?

“No it was fourteen seconds after eight a.m. and I recall a green Ford with a black poodle in the back seat passed us in front of the White Castle on Four-hundred-ninety-second street and....”


14 posted on 12/20/2010 5:56:59 PM PST by dblup
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To: onona

LOL

I heard about this yesterday and that was my first thought.


15 posted on 12/20/2010 5:58:39 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously..... You won't live through it anyway.)
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To: Cowgirl of Justice
you remember every awful thing that happened to you like it was yesterday.

True but only if you bring them out of the closet of your mind...........We all vividly remember the bad things in our lives, those are engraved permanently but only surface when we think about them. It's not like they remain forefront of every thing we do or remember.

I can remember bad things that happened when I was in the army but only when I think about them. Primarily tho, when I reflect on my Army experiences, the memories that jump to the forefront are the good times I had........

16 posted on 12/20/2010 5:59:51 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (There's only one cure for Obamarrhea......)
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To: Kid Shelleen

I saw them on 60 minutes (her and 4 others) The biggest plus was never losing an arguement due to that memory..lol


17 posted on 12/20/2010 6:00:23 PM PST by fml
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To: Cowgirl of Justice
During the Nam I avoided all the death reports ~ until one day it was reported to me that my best friend had been killed flying out of Marble Mountain.

I spent time over the years trying to find some of the guys who knew him in the Marines, and after 30 years I found the CO of the flight.

He remembered every second of that day, every name, every broken bone, ever bullet hole, every bullet fragment, every everything like it was happening live. Best of all he remembered my best friend exactly as I remembered him.

Gooey Gomez, a friend to many Freepers for many years, was on that flight.

That moment of contact still brings tears to my eyes in seconds ~ and that's going on right now.

This is both a good thing and a terrible burden.

18 posted on 12/20/2010 6:02:33 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

For what it is worth story is Clinton can remember phone numbers, addresses, faces and other things from decades ago. Me I got to see you about six times before the name gets connected with the face.


19 posted on 12/20/2010 6:04:06 PM PST by nomorelurker
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To: nomorelurker

I can de-link the names as I walk away, but remember the faces forever, and even the conversations.


20 posted on 12/20/2010 6:07:40 PM PST by muawiyah
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