Two case reports offer a new clue to the 20-year mystery of highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM).

Standard memory tests have not explained this extraordinary autobiographical recall.

Two new cases link HSAM with unusually frequent involuntary autobiographical memories.

These involuntary memories may strengthen memory for past experiences through repeated mental rehearsal.

Without looking it up, what can you remember from November 5, 2021? Anything? Me neither. Most of us might remember a major holiday or personal milestone, but little more. A person with highly superior autobiographical memory, or HSAM, may rapidly tell you what day of the week it was, what happened in their life, and what was unfolding in the news.

HSAM is a rare memory ability whereby a person can remember nearly all of their life experiences from adolescence onward. This unusual ability has perplexed researchers for two decades. It has now been 20 years since Elizabeth Parker, Larry Cahill and James McGaugh identified the first known case. Although additional cases have continued to emerge over the years, researchers have struggled to determine what distinguishes people with HSAM from everyone else. People with HSAM often perform unremarkably on standard neuropsychological assessments and common laboratory memory tasks. They are also vulnerable to false memory formation and don’t appear to have a general-purpose memory advantage.

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