Hyperthymesia

This semester, among other classes, I am taking a positive psychology course. Our first assignment in this course was to take the VIA Survey of Strengths on the University of Pennsylvania’s Authentic Happiness website. It is a 240 question survey that, when completed, assigns you your top five personal strengths. Before I took this survey I do not think that I was very aware of my own mental gifts. Likely because I did not think it would do me any good to recognize them. Since I took this survey and completed a reflective paper on it, I now understand that realizing and understand your mental strengths is paramount in the process of expanding and strengthening your mind. The survey deducted that my strongest mental gifts include, but are not limited to: memory, attention, and judgement. My skilled memory has proved useful time and time again. Whether it be in school or in my personal life, it has always been a gift. I have an Eidetic memory; therefore, I am able to remember visual images that I have seen in great detail. This has proven useful on many tests and assignments in the past. It is also useful in my personal life in instances when someone important to me mentions that they enjoyed or appreciated something. After that, I am able to remember these little details and bring them back up when it counts. My memory is great now. However, this is not uncommon. According to Dr. Mercola brain function “peaks during early adulthood and from there on slowly declines”…

“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don’t have the film.” In this quote by Stephen Wright, he mentions the rare phenomenon regarding photographic memory. The technical term, eidetic imagery, is so much more than having a really good memory. Eidetic imagery is defined as the ability to retain images in memory that are almost perfect photographic quality. A person who has eidetic imagery can simply look at any image including a map, drawing, or essay, and mentally recall it later.…

In “The End of Remembering” by Joshua Foer, the author gushes about Gordon Bell, a Microsoft employee who wears a camera around his neck, records his phone calls, and scans every paper he sees into a database. Bell catalogs his life as a means to remember everything that happens to him. If he needs to remember what happened on June 3, 2004, he can search his “lifelog” (Foer 172) and discover the events of that particular date in time. In essence, Bell is creating an external autobiographical…

increased memory capacity. One more interesting fact about Peek is that when he was 18 years old he was hired to manage payroll for 160 people without using calculator and was later fired in his early 30’s because the authorities computerized the payroll. It took two full time accountants and a computer to replace him. Aurelien Hayman: This guy is even more interesting than Peek. “Oh! Really? What did he do?” He can never forget any instance in his life. “What! a guy who can never forget? Is…

Memories are the basis in which people construct their lives. Ranging from building relationships to developing opinions, they play an undeniable role in everyday life. In fact, Dr. Pierce J. Howard, Director of Research for Applied Cognitive Studies, describes the memory as “Learning that sticks,” (Howard 526). As important as memories are, average individuals forget a majority of their life. For instance, typical people will not be able to recall what they ate for breakfast a year ago or what…

targets long-term memory as well decaying over time until the body cannot function properly (Holger, 2013). This process happens early in the stages of Alzheimer's disease. According to Jahn Holger, author of Memory loss in Alzheimer's Disease, "healthy aging, only 0.2% to 0.41% of the brain volume vanishes per year, the rates in AD may be ten times that" (Holger, para. 3). Jahn also states that some brain atrophy rate "surpass 10% per year" (Holger, para. 3). This is a very common problem,…

sixteen mortals with just a bite . Twelve days after birth, Crayen was a young adult, he stayed this age for seven days, then which his mother could tell that this would be his age forever. Over the next few days Crayen started to show that he had more powers. Crayen was the smartest hero there is because he had hyperthymesia, which means he can remember everything that he ever sees, reads, hears, or smells. Crayen also has telekinetic powers which is when he can move objects with his mind, but…

cheat, but now my greatest fears were coming true. Once class started, she gave everyone a friendly welcome to the eighth grade and to this class. Sadly, my mind blocked out any words coming out of her mouth and was scared about the reading. After her introduction, she pointed to me and said the words that made the entire world explode. “Flabby, read the first ten pages.” “Excuse teacher…” “Please, Mrs. V is fine.” “Okay Mrs. V, I don’t feel so good.” “Oh, come on…