This is a story I’ve seen on TV and in the newspaper. It’s about a woman name Jill Price who claims to remember absolutely everyday of her life since she was fourteen.  She came out with a book recently entitled “The Woman who Can’t Forget”, and has appeared on numerous news casts and talk shows.

My sister screams hoax, and I tend to believe her.  99% of the things she says are unverifiable, and the rest are things regular people would remember, or could guess.  Here’s a link to a review of her book:

Unable to Forget

Quote the article:

“On Friday afternoon, October 19, 1979,“ she writes, “I came home from school and had some soup because it was unusually cold that day.“ Oprah, take note: Oct. 19, 1979, was, in fact, a Friday, and it was cloudy with a high of 67 in Los Angeles, well below normal.“

Okay, I don’t live in Los Angeles, but October tends to be a chilly month (in the Northern Hemisphere).  If someone asked me what I was doing July 5, 1990, I could say, “It was pretty hot, so I had some ice cream.“  And, by God, If you look it up, I’m probably right! 

It seems she uses similar tactics and vague words that are usually associated with Psychics. 

They also said that they checked her facts with her diary.  That’s pretty dumb, in my opinion. What if she wrote the diary yesterday?  What if she memorized her diary, like it was a play?  It wouldn’t be that hard to do.

She could very well have an above average memory… but is she using that to scam her way onto talk shows and sell books?  What do you think?  Is the woman genuine?

And how is woman who never forgets anything, however trivial, in anyway unusual? Change “anything” to “anything I’ve ever done wrong” and it sounds like my wife!

Hyperthymestic syndrome is a documented condition where the sufferer can remember the most trivial events from their life.

Probably real. Why would you go to that sort of trouble?

Anyway, if she managed to memorise her entire life from diary entries, isn’t that actually MORE impressive?

David B. - 12 May 2008 07:31 AM

And how is woman who never forgets anything, however trivial, in anyway unusual? Change “anything” to “anything I’ve ever done wrong” and it sounds like my wife!

Ooooh, snap!

Anyway, if she managed to memorise her entire life from diary entries, isn’t that actually MORE impressive?

I guess that depends on how detailed the diary is.  Ordinary actors can memorize hundreds of pages of dialogue, so memorizing your own diary wouldn’t be that hard.

If this is who I think it is then she’s been studied by actual scientists, too.  That still doesn’t disprove fraud, but it’s a least a tad more respectable than Oprah.  I don’t remember the woman’s name, but I do remember reading about either her or another like her in an article on memory that also included those people who have no short term memory.  I’ll have to look for it when I get home and see if it has any sites.

Dily - 12 May 2008 08:18 AM

David B. - 12 May 2008 07:31 AM

And how is woman who never forgets anything, however trivial, in anyway unusual? Change “anything” to “anything I’ve ever done wrong” and it sounds like my wife!

Ooooh, snap!

Anyway, if she managed to memorise her entire life from diary entries, isn’t that actually MORE impressive?

I guess that depends on how detailed the diary is.  Ordinary actors can memorize hundreds of pages of dialogue, so memorizing your own diary wouldn’t be that hard.

Hamlet speak less than a hundred pages of dialogue. Memorising it is difficult but possible.

This woman would have to memorise entries going back 30-40 years. All of them. Assuming 30 years of entries, that gives roughly 10,950 diary entries (not counting leap years). Even if the only information in the entries was the weather and lunch, that’s an incredible amount of information.

For an actor to do that he’d probably have to memorise every part in every Shakespeare play and be able to recite specific lines when asked for (page 16 of King Lear, Cordelia’s reply to her father). That’s probably a massive understatement.

He’d probably have to memorise all the lines from the Star Wars films, the Indiana Jones films, the Monty Python films, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and every Simpsons and South Park episode.

There’s actually been a few of these folks making ‘news’ of late.

Renquist - 12 May 2008 07:33 AM

Hyperthymestic syndrome is a documented condition where the sufferer can remember the most trivial events from their life.

Ironically, that wiki article says that this Jill Price woman is the only person in the world who has a “confirmed” case of it, dubbed by three researchers at the University of California.

Why would you go to that sort of trouble?

Money is a powerful motivator.  Plus, psychics come up with these elaborate stories that they stick too all the time.  Except with Psychics, it’s other people’s lives they can see.

Dily - 12 May 2008 03:22 PM

Renquist - 12 May 2008 07:33 AM

Hyperthymestic syndrome is a documented condition where the sufferer can remember the most trivial events from their life.

Ironically, that wiki article says that this Jill Price woman is the only person in the world who has a “confirmed” case of it, dubbed by three researchers at the University of California.

Why would you go to that sort of trouble?

Money is a powerful motivator.  Plus, psychics come up with these elaborate stories that they stick too all the time.  Except with Psychics, it’s other people’s lives they can see.

A psychic makes stuff up on the spot and can be proven wrong *coughSylviaBrowncough*

This lady can be cross referenced with documentation spanning 30 years of personal history. And if she memorised all that then it’s an equally impressive mental feat far beyond that of normal human achievement and deserves recognition.

So, either way, she’s remembering a lot more than the average human is anywhere capable of.

Not quite Funes though eh?

I think we could safely move this to ‘News’?