Hypermnesia (almost Unlimited Memory): Causes And Symptoms
Being able to remember the things we experienced is something that most people value as something positive.which allows us to learn and treasure what we have experienced. Over time, we tend to forget most of the information we receive, which is adaptive for us since it allows us to make room in our consciousness for the arrival of new information.
Many people wish they could keep a greater amount of information in their memory for longer, making their memories never disappear. However, This does not occur in cases of hypermnesia, in which all types of memories remain vivid and fresh permanently in memory..
Most people are able to remember specific moments that have had a profound impact on them. The first kiss, the last time we saw a loved one before he died… The emotions that these events provoke in us mean that some details remain with us forever. However, even in these types of memories we usually keep only small fragments, forgetting a large number of details that we consider of little importance.
People who suffer from hypermnesia, also called hyperthymesia, They have a memory and evocation capacity much higher than averagebeing able to remember a large amount of material with great precision and detail. This capacity allows them to be able to encode, store and retrieve new content very quickly in order to use it when it is necessary. It is a tremendously useful ability that has nothing to do with the level of intelligence of the person who possesses it and that in itself is not pathological.
The memory capacity of these subjects is mainly subject to a specific type of memory: autobiographical memory. People with hypermnesia are able to remember almost every detail of the events they have experienced. However, as a general rule they are not more capable in other types of memory unless they are able to link stimuli to personal memories.
However, on some occasions the memory does not focus only on aspects that the individual wants to remember, but there may be serious difficulties in abstraction and selection of the remembered material, causing significant discomfort for the subject that reduces their functionality and can cause anxiety. and serious alterations in mood. In these cases it could be considered a pathology, called hypermnestic syndrome.
In many cases, hypermnesia or hyperthymesia appears in people with obsessive characteristics.this fact may be one of the factors that contributes to the retention capacity or an indirect effect of such capacity.
Although there are very few people who suffer from this strange syndrome, various cases have been documented both in the past and in recent times in which some individuals indicate that they are able to remember every detail of what they have experienced since childhood or adolescence.
Some differences at the neuroanatomical level
The few cases of subjects with hypermnesia that have been studied have shown that they present some particularities in some brain areas and elements.
It has been detected that in these people the frontal and temporal parts of the brain have a stronger connection, with a higher density of white matter, than in the majority of the population. Apparently, there are alterations in the inferior and medial temporal gyri of the temporal lobe, an area in which the uncinate fasciculus is located, which has an important role in autobiographical memory. In people with hypermnesia, this fascicle is widely developed.
Likewise, in some cases a larger size of the amygdala and its connections with the hippocampus have been detected compared to subjects without hypermnesia. This fact supports the belief that the increased level of memory is linked to the connection of stimuli with emotions.
Hypermnesic phenomena
Hypermnesia is a rare phenomenon with very few cases recorded.. However, there are a large number of phenomena related to this type of problem that appear occasionally in some subjects.
In some cases, great moments that have marked us can appear as clear memories in the form of a flash, especially when we refer to important moments in which we remember with complete clarity what we were doing when such an event occurred (say, for example, the arrival of the man to the Moon).
Phenomena similar to hypermnesia also appear in some disorders such as psychotic or manic disorders.especially when these memories are used for a specific purpose such as providing a justification for anomalous behavior.
It is also possible that an event that has caused us a profound emotional alteration, generally events experienced during childhood or some traumatic events, is remembered in an especially vivid way, and it can even be confused between the past and the present and the memory can be considered to be the experience. current. This phenomenon is known as ecmnesia.
Benefit or torture?
As we have said before, for many people being able to remember all the events of their life or simply being able to retain a much larger amount of information in memory is a positive thing. Quickly recalling information can facilitate the learning of many disciplines and skillsgives us a good ability to remember the things that are important to us and our loved ones and can even open the doors to jobs or other opportunities.
However, while some people with hypermnesia live relatively normal lives, for some others their condition can be extremely painful and disabling. And in some cases, what could have been a gift became a curse that caused serious difficulties in all areas of life.
In this sense, not being able to forget means that every time we have to do a specific action we have to stop for a long time to organize our mental contents, resulting in a high level of propensity to be distracted and a decrease in the productivity of our actions.
It can make it difficult to discern between what is necessary and what is circumstantial, giving great importance to elements that really do not have to be necessary. It can also generate a high level of indecision in those who suffer from it.
Emotionally painful memories
In the same way, being able to remember with great clarity means that the painful events that have happened to us throughout our lives cannot be overcome quickly, leaving feelings such as guilt and humiliation in our own psyche for a longer time. making the grieving processes much more challenging than usual.
The acquisition of new knowledge is also complicated, since the level of attention decreases with the application of mental resources to try to filter and use the necessary memories and not others.
In addition, the transition between learning and task automation is difficultsince not only the basic procedure is remembered but the entire set of associated details and therefore it is more difficult to abstract the necessary from the accessory.
Furthermore, in some cases the vividness of the memory can cause confusion between past and present, which can lead to eccentric delusions in which it is believed that one is experiencing what is actually a memory.
Is memory really infinite?
It must be taken into account that hypermnesia, although it is a very striking phenomenon, is still confined to the field of mental processes (cognitive, specifically) and, consequently, depends on the functioning of the brain. This is so because maintaining the opposite would mean defending dualism in psychologythe belief that there is something incorporeal separate from the material world that in turn impacts the latter. That is, an unscientific point of view.
On the other hand, in many cases of people with hypermnesia it goes hand in hand with an abnormal brain. Kim Peek, for example, in addition to being able to memorize entire books, had no corpus callosum joining the two cerebral hemispheres. It would be a coincidence if these two facts had nothing to do with each other. Obviously, extraordinary mental abilities They exist because behind them there is an extraordinary nervous system.
This means that hypermnesia has a limit for the simple fact that it arises from something that is also limited: the brain, due to its material nature.
