A 17 -year -old Frenchman with exceptional memory can mentally “travel in time”. It is a very rare case of Hipertimesia.
A case recently described in a published in the magazine Neurocase The scientists are surprising.
A 17 -year -old French young woman, identified by the initials TL, has a autobiographical memory Rich and accurate, at an unusual level, which allows him to revisit moments of the past and project future events with a very rare level of detail.
According to the researchers, the smallest has a hypertimeextremely rare condition that is distinguished by the exceptional capacity of recalling past personal experiences with sharpness and above average liveliness.
Unlike an above average general memory, this ability specifically focuses on the recall of autobiographical episodes.
The student, described as successful on the school path, said she had kept this gift secret for years after a child was accused of inventing stories when she said she could “revisit” her past.
Today, describes your mental process as a “White Room” Where it organizes memories in categories – vacation, family or friends – storing symbolic objects as photographs, documents or toys, all thoroughly labeled.
According to the study’s authors, the young woman manages to revive first person personal episodes or even observe them, in the third person, outside, with unusual clarity.
For tests allegations, researchers have applied various evidence of memories and projection in the future.
Although they could not measure the accuracy of each memory, they found that the descriptions showed a vividness and level of detail characteristic of genuine memoriesincluding very early childhood memories.
But young TL’s “time in time” are not limited to the past.
Regarding futureTL was able to anticipate personal events in a highly realistic way, in a demonstration of what experts described as a “Strong sense of pre-experience”as if they were remembering instead of imagining.
This is the first documented case of a case of hypertimesia with complete assessment of the capacity for “mental travel in time”, points out, covering both the recovery of past events and the projection of future experiences.
Although the mechanisms behind this ability remain unknown, researchers notice that several TL family members have unusual cognitive characteristics, such as synesthesia e pitch perfectfactors that may be related to their impressive autobiographical memory.
