Mary Lucy Denise Pudlowsk
Posted on 12/20/2010 5:24:01 PM PST by Kid Shelleen
Can you imagine remembering every single day of your life?
That's what actress Marilu Henner says she can do.
On "The Early Show" Monday, Henner -- one of only six people recognized in the world as having a rare gift called superior autobiographical memory -- explained what life is like remembering every day of her life. Henner and others with the same ability were profiled Sunday on "60 Minutes."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Mary Lucy Denise Pudlowsk
Autobiographical human memory is real ... I have seen other interviews with tests conducted... There is also a whole range of memory capability that I call ‘visual cataloging’... My own memory - while not even close to matching Marilu Henner’s even amazes me at times... And I grew up with it...
My particular brand of memory is very visual, triggered by events and situations... But when it happens an amazing amount of detail spills out... Similar to what Henner said - conversations are very often remembered exactly, what was worn by me and others at that meeting, angle and position of stance, documents - such as notations on the side margin, angle of writing, color of ink, location in a pile of documents - the list is endless...
But what astounds me personally is how long back my memory goes — to about 15 months old (which I have documented to my satisfaction) then again at 18 months old... and on and on... These memories are not just vague blurred scenes but played out like a sharp video...
I have had to learn to turn if off and/or not use it ... Such a ‘talent’ is not conducive to personal relationships... It is like having a perfect atomic clock on your wrist - most people don’t care down to the millisecond and don’t want to know...
My sales staff back in the 90’s hated sales meetings - without notes I could rattle off every detail of what every salesman was supposed to be doing over the past several weeks (contacts, follow ups and such - who - what - when - where - why, etc. And they couldn’t do this even with written notes... huge gaps in what they could recall - even with pages of notes.
The story could go on and on... One time in a civil suit - I went on and on in excruciating detail about the events and facts being disputed - non stop with points accentuated like bullets on a typed page. The jury just stared - silently not even whispering to each other ... then within an hour ruled in my favor...
There is good and bad in all this - but on balance - not all that helpful - because other humans are involved who can’t remember the details and often think I am just BSing. But not.
I don't know if it's conscious with him that he's working backwards but he mixes up cause and effect!
How do you manage to stay quiet at, say, parties or reunions when people resurrect events that they don’t remember quite correctly?
“No it was fourteen seconds after eight a.m. and I recall a green Ford with a black poodle in the back seat passed us in front of the White Castle on Four-hundred-ninety-second street and....”
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It often turns out to be a BIG PAIN - you learn to keep your mouth shut ... or just gloss over it... there are not many rewards in having a cataloging visual memory... Personally there is - but socially it is problematic ...
Will someone PLEASE remember where the hell Obama put his original birth certificate?
I forgot what I was going to write.
She’s a anti-milk vegan fanatical freak.
Either she was remembering her time with Lazamataz or they needed to turn down the air conditioning.
I even remember being potty trained at 3 years old. I also remember throwing my bottle out of the crib for the last time probably around sometime when I was 2-ish and my mother chastising my older sister for still wanting her bottle.(She is 352 days older than me. We’re Catholic.)
And I do remember having to pull myself way up to the counter to see what was on it. So I was smaller than what, 36 inches?
My sister had the same memory but after using a certain birth control she had what I think were some mini strokes and has lost her long term memory. She now refers to mine knowing how clear and exact it is.
Funny thing though, she and I also share the same thoughts. I live in Georgia and she is in Seattle. We have bought the same clothes, books, checks, CDs sometimes on the same day. We have called each other and gotten busy signals despite having call waiting as we are calling each other at the exact same second. One night, after I got out of the shower, I took the lid off my Q-tip holder and was going to reach for one but dropped the lid and almost started crying. I put my hands over my ears and backed out of the room trying not to wail. I didn’t understand it but found out the next day that my sister had punctured her eardrum with a Q-tip the day before. 3500 miles away.
she may remember every day of her life right now but can she remember her past lives? lol
Sometimes it really sucks. My husband is used to it and now knows not to question anything I say. I think he is disappointed that I didn’t go further in life. I am also a speed reader and can inhale a book a day+. My father has the same memory and I turn to him if I am ever troubled. He has a gift of sifting throught the chaff and getting to the wheat in an hour conversation and summing it up in one sentence and giving the absolute solution.
My thoughts are random and I talk like that sometimes. I really have to work to control it and usually keep my mouth shut. My brain works nonstop, even when I sleep and I am unable to nap as my brain stays revved up. I have been called the Rain Man but didn’t take it in any way as a compliment. This is the first time I have talked about it. The show last night almost made me cry because I have always felt like a freak. My memory is not as good as theirs as I don’t have the exact month and date in my mind but absolutely remember every event.
No it was fourteen seconds after eight a.m. and I recall a green Ford with a black poodle in the back seat passed us in front of the White Castle on Four-hundred-ninety-second street and....”
That was the poodle who ate 6 doubles with cheese and an order of clam strips for breakfast.. It was a grand torino and the driver was a woman in a wool cap. It said NY Giants on the cap and she was all pissed off because her tickets to the Giant bs Eagle game didn’t come through. I believe it was November 19, 1978.
My bet is that was her memory after Sunday’s game.
Past lives, if any, are pushed a billion billion years in back of that red/dark stuff so if you remembered any of it it's gotta' be just a highlight or something.
:*(
I am so very sorry.
You sound like a Twilight Zone episode.
Try more whiskey. Makes the painful memories go away. And, the other memories, whatever they were. Also, the less-dedicated family members...
Does anyone remember watching “as the world turns?”
Then, I got a job... keeping people from hanging out in front of the drugstore.
Oh my, I have heard of these experiences between twins...but nothing like this. My brother is 2 yrs. older than me & I often jog his memory about our childhood. Sometimes I don’t know if I remember it or just have been told about it so many times that I think I remember it. He has had a stroke & left side is bad but his mind is still sharp as a tack, thank goodness.
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