Italy's magical mind may unlock memory mystery

Reuters ^

[Dallas]

LUGO DI RAVENNA, Italy, May 20 (Reuters) - Gianni Golfera can remember his first flight as though it were yesterday, the colour of the plane, the radio messages, sitting on his mother's knee. He was only six months old.

Gifted with a startlingly accurate memory, 24-year-old Golfera spent his adolescence training his mind and despite never seeking the limelight his skill has seen him perform under television spotlights and grace countless magazine covers.

"I can remember the names of 100 people just introduced to me, a string of 15,000 numbers and recite a speech that I've just heard," he told Reuters, wearing one of his seven identical trademark black suits.

Scientists have latched onto his filmic mind, hoping it will reveal the secrets of the memory gene, and thereby get one step closer to managing memory-loss diseases like Alzheimer's.

Yet for researchers, the really remarkable thing about this dark-haired man from a sleepy town in northern Italy, is the fact that his ability to access huge tomes of recorded information is also shared by his father and grandfather.

All three are pilots who leave inflight maps and manuals at home and remain slightly bemused by everyone else's surprise at their talents.

"Our family philosophy is not to consider ourselves a phenomenon," said Gianni's father, 45-year-old Andrea Golfera. "We might be pilots, but we keep our feet firmly on the ground."

Researchers however are already flying high at the prospect of being able to study the brains of three generations with the rare gift of photographic memory.

"I am convinced there is a genetic component. By studying these more evolved memories we will be able to identify the genes that are involved in memory," said neuro-scientist Antonio Malgaroli of Milan's San Raffaele institute.

UNLOCKING THE MIND

Golfera is excited by the research, hoping that perhaps it will allow him to be remembered long into the future.

"I'll be delighted for them to do all the tests they like on me. I hope that by studying my DNA they will discover a key that I cannot find myself," he said.

The DNA in genes transcribes the recipe for proteins which make everything from muscle tissue to brain synapses.

A deeper understanding of the genes that govern memory -- its acquisition, development and loss -- could open the door to understanding how we recall and forget, why we remember and where memories are stored.

"Our goal is to map the changes that occur when the brain remembers, once we have identified the molecule involved, the mechanism at the level of proteins coded by DNA, we can search for it in the Golfera family," Malgaroli said.

The Golferas always took their recall ability for granted.

"When you remember, it's something 100 percent natural, it is only when you realise that other people don't do the same that you realise it is something special," explained Andrea.

Grandfather Bartolomeo, 82, was a star pilot during World War Two whose lightening memory put him ahead of the enemy.

The youngest Golfera grew up fascinated by how quickly everyone around him forgot, whilst he continued to remember.

Vestiges of his childhood still linger in his adult life -- such as his continued belief in mythical figures like Father Christmas. "It is like I was told yesterday and I have no reason to disbelieve," he said.

IMAGINING THE IDEA

Golfera was never top of the class, infuriating teachers at school by refusing to take notes.

Instead he set about translating from Latin a Renaissance Italian text by Giordano Bruno on the art of memory, memorising all the books that Bruno would have read in the process and developing his own technique.

"Every idea has a cognitive weight, to remember you have to make things weightless by translating them into a picture," Golfera said. "Then you associate images and chain all the ideas together so they interact."

When the mind remembers, electrical impulses pass through the brain, like switching on light bulbs. The more emotion and sensory stimulation is involved in the experience, the more light bulbs are illuminated and the more vivid the memory.

Golfera developed his own method which enhances the way the brain naturally processes information -- linking sounds, colours, emotions and tastes to ideas, numbers and objects.

To help him, Golfera has memorised thousands of familiar places and it is in these virtual rooms that he stores memories.

"Memory is a problem of order, not space. You have to know where to look for what you have remembered."

Malgaroli agrees: "The memory system is an infinite container. What you remember is not stored in a very precise way, it is continually being re-organised."

Yet there is a darker side to having a limitless memory.

"I have problems conceiving of time and space because all my memories are instantly available to me," Gianni said, "Death is a strange concept to me because my memories don't fade, when people die for me it is as if they just changed address."

And forget about indulging in rosy-hued remembrances of nostalgia. Golfera remembers the good, the bad and the ugly with equal force.

"I'd like to be able to manage my memories and control my dreams," he said. "I think of the mind as a parallel universe and mine just keeps on expanding, I doubt I'll ever fill it."

[Waco]

The main reason I still do a crossword almost daily is to check the "calibration" of my mind. If is suddenly get slower than usual in solving it, time to fret.. I also have been doing the crypto mostly without writing anything down, since around 1985. "Genetics" is a real "no sh-t Sherlock". Nearly everything we are is "inherited", health etc.

[Jeff Chandler]

then = than

[Jeff Chandler]

Are you a musician?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

...more evolved...

A genetic component to memory. What will they remember to think of next?

[brat]

HEHEHE! Know the feeling!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I have a photographic memory to a certain extent that I can remember music and see it in my mind's eye. Obviously, since I'm a musician, this skill comes in handy :-).

[sleavelessinseattle]

Nope, did a BA Thesis on memory...Guy named Luria in the Soviet union was like a video recorder...Committed suicide...The studies didn't have much to say about genetics, probably because this chap was so miserable...Every memory was distinct because he suffered from synesthesia...Color had a taste, Texture had a sound, baaad acid trip if you asked me...As indicated in this piece, the secret to memory is making each fact RELATE in some unique way to the retrieval cue...Context...What room were you in when you were introduced to Mr. X, what were you drinking...that sort of stuff....Hope they can bottle it, someday or improve the upgradeability of the Mark 1 Mod 0 noodle I'm stuck with!

[Sabertooth]

"When you remember, it's something 100 percent natural, it is only when you realise that other people don't do the same that you realise it is something special," explained Andrea.

Interesting about your son, I've had similar experiences to him and the Golferas. I can recall the apartment I lived in before I was a year old, down to the floorplan, the furniture, and the colors of the walls and carpets. I also recall learning my first word.

When I was eight, I memorized the best times of every kid in every event on my swim team, and spent about 10 minutes updating after every swim meet (About 1200 times in all). A few of the mothers would spend hours updating the record board on Saturday afternoons, and insist that I proofread it. I thought it was kinda silly, but did it for them anyway.

One thing I've learned is that the more you've remembered, the more you can remember. With more possible associations, it's easier for some little factoid to find its nich in your mind.

I've also noticed something I call "peripheral memory," which is analogous to peripheral vision. When I recall something consciously, there are a bunch of related or tangential memories just beyond it in my semi-consciousness... I know they're there and can pursue them if I choose, but they're not a distraction. For example, I remember where I learned things that recollection is right there if that item comes up in everyday conversation.

That's not to say I remember everything, I don't. "Photographic memory" seems to me a good term, because there is a lot of mental imagery involved. I don't think "Total recall" is as good a term for this type of memory.

In any case, your son has a rare and interesting gift... I hope he continues to nourish and enjoy it.

[Dan Day]

But you're right about one thing: It's not organized, at any level, anything like present-day computers.

One of the most fascinating books I've ever read is Sparse Distributed Memory, by Pentti Kanerva.

Kanerva is a mathematician, and has developed a method for data storage/retrieval that has properties remarkably similar to human memory:

1. Information is retrieved by association, not by "location".

2. More recently stored information is retrieved more readily and accurately than information that was stored longer ago.

3. Repeatedly storing a piece of information (or information similar to it) causes that information to be stored more "firmly" and permanently.

4. The memory unit has no set capacity, but the more new information you store, the more older information tends to fade.

5. Information is stored "all over" the memory unit -- no piece of information is stored in any particular spot. Damaging a section of the memory unit doesn't cause specific memories to vanish, it just degrades the overall accuracy of all memories (similar to how brain damage in humans doesn't erase batches of memory).

6. The memory can have the "tip of the tongue" problem, where it "knows" that it knows something, but can't manage to retrieve it until a "reminder" cue helps to unlock it.

7. Time-based information (like memorizing songs) can be stored in the memory unit as well, and would be done in a way that makes it easy to retrieve the rest of a song sequentially given a snippet from the middle (like being able to mentally replay a song in your head after hearing a few bars), but it would be more difficult to "skip back" to a prior part of a song or "skip forward" (just like how you often have to "sing through" a song in your head to remember the chorus or a given lyric).

8. Retrieving information "in context" is easier than retrieving it out of context.

And so on.

The properties of the memory model are worked out rigorously in the book using mathematics barely beyond the high school level. It's a fascinating read.

The appendix of the book also shows how the wiring of the neurons in the cerebellum (the part of the brain that stores "movement memory" -- which for example allows us to walk "automatically" without having to consciously position every foot step) is remarkably similar to the configuration that one would use to implement a hardware version of the theoretical memory unit being analyzed in the book.

I think the author is really on to something, and he continues to do research projects on this topic.

[tictoc]

This week's mind theory or hypothesis is that the conscious mind is actually in the highly complex electromagnetic field surrounding the brain rather than in the neurons themselves

How far out is this EM field supposed to extend? Would that explain such phenomena as < tinfoil > telepathy < /tinfoil >?

I am a conference interpreter, and when I find myself on the "same wavelength" as a speaker (which is not often), I get the eery feeling that the roles are reversed, i.e. I am the one giving the speech and the speaker is following along with me.

However, I have never been able to "look inside" a person's mind and know what they are thinking.

[2Trievers]

Don't sell yourself so short cookie! &;-)

[Dallas]

Good for you, on the homeschooling.

It's a very wise decision...

[RightWhale]

acquired knowledge, properly synthesized, increases wisdom

Ah, but does it? In some cases, very young people, children, show signs of wisdom before they know much of anything while their playmates show every sign of growing up to be chimpanzees.

[RightWhale]

Are you a musician?

No, I play string bass.

[RightWhale]

Is that direct communication between the EM fields or simply that two people are thinking the same way?

[Jeff Chandler]

Ah, but does it? In some cases, very young people, children, show signs of wisdom before they know much of anything while their playmates show every sign of growing up to be chimpanzees.

Acquired knowledge has no effect on a great many people, but many who seek wisdom find it. Therefore the consciousness must be able in some way to access the physical brain.

[apochromat]

The idea is very similar to Gallagher codes, which NASA has used for deep-space probes. Sleep and dreaming probably play a major role in forming evenly distributed associations in the brain.

[RightWhale]

the consciousness must be able in some way to access the physical brain.

Seems to be so. It's still a mystery [to me anyway] how a thought, for instance of hitting a baseball with a bat, is translated into nerve impulses and muscular contractions resulting in grounding out in a double play.

[Walkingfeather]

Thanks for the reply. Very interesting, I am glad to here you are home schooling. We hope to also. By the way We like your screen name. We are too.