Hyperthymesia, also called hyperthymestic syndrome or highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), is a condition that leads individuals to be in a position to remember an abnormally massive variety of their life experiences in vivid detail. A one that has hyperthymesia known as a hyperthymesiac. American neurobiologists Elizabeth Parker, Larry Cahill and James McGaugh (2006) identified two defining traits of hyperthymesia: spending an extreme period of time thinking about one's previous, neural entrainment audio and displaying an extraordinary capability to recall particular events from one's previous. The authors wrote that they derived the word from Historic Greek: hyper- 'extreme' and allegedly thymesis 'remembering', though such a phrase just isn't attested in Historic Greek, but they may have been considering of Trendy Greek thymisi 'memory' or Historic Greek enthymesis 'consideration', neural entrainment audio which are derived from thymos 'mind'. Hyperthymesiacs can extensively recall the events of their lives, as well as public occasions that hold some private significance to them. These affected describe their recollections as uncontrollable associations; after they encounter a date, they "see" a vivid depiction of that day in their heads without hesitation or aware effort.

Although she describes her thoughts like having a film operating, she will not be recording her world verbatim in its totality. One day after a number of hours collectively, she was requested to shut her eyes and tell what her two interviewers were wearing. She was unable to take action. There is a distinction between hyperthymesiacs and those with different types of distinctive memory, who usually use mnemonic or comparable rehearsal methods to memorise long strings of data. Recollections recalled by hyperthymesiacs are typically personal, autobiographical accounts of each vital and mundane occasions in their lives. This extensive and highly unusual memory does not derive from using mnemonic strategies; it is encoded involuntarily and retrieved automatically. Despite perhaps being ready to recollect the day of the week on which a particular date fell, hyperthymestics should not calendrical calculators, like some folks with savant syndrome. Relatively, hyperthymestic recall tends to be constrained to a person's life experiences and is believed to be a subconscious process.

Although people showing a high degree of hyperthymesia will not be considered autistic, certain similarities exist between the two conditions. Like autistic savants, some hyperthymesiacs might even have an unusual and obsessive curiosity in dates. As the first documented hyperthymestic, Memory Wave Jill Value was quite completely different from the famous case of mnemonist Solomon Shereshevsky (as documented by psychologist Alexander Luria). Shereshevsky could memorise nearly unlimited amounts of knowledge intentionally, whereas Value couldn't - she could solely remember autobiographical data and events she had personally encountered to some extent. In reality, she was generally poor at memorisation, based on the examine published in Neurocase. Hyperthymestic individuals appear to have poorer than average memory for arbitrary info. Another hanging parallel drawn between the two cases was that Shereshevsky exemplified an interesting case of synesthesia, and it has been advised that superior autobiographical memory is intimately tied to time-house synesthesia. Hyperthymestic talents can have a detrimental impact. The fixed, irrepressible stream of memories has induced vital disruption to price's life.

She described her recollection as "non-stop, uncontrollable and completely exhausting" and as "a burden". Price is liable to getting lost in remembering. This can make it difficult to attend to the present or future, as she is often spending time re-dwelling the previous. Others who've hyperthymesia might not display any of those traits, however. Price shows considerable issue in memorising allocentric information. In line with James McGaugh, "Her autobiographical memory, whereas unimaginable, is also selective and even bizarre in some respects". This was demonstrated by her having poor performance on standardised memory exams and average efficiency at college, unable to use her distinctive memory to her studies. Deficits in govt functioning and anomalous lateralisation were also recognized in Price. These cognitive deficiencies are characteristic of frontostriatal disorders. Even those with a high stage of hyperthymesia do not remember exactly all the things in their lives or have "excellent memory". Studies have proven that it is a selective capacity, as proven by Value's case, and they can have comparative issue with rote memorisation and subsequently cannot apply their skill to school and work.