A WOMAN with a rare condition claims she can remember 95 per cent of everything that’s ever happened to her – including being in the womb.
Rebecca Sharrock, 34, lives with highly superior autobiographical memory (H-SAM) – a neurological condition which leaves people able to remember most of their life in intricate detail.
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It’s extraordinarily rare and Rebecca is just one of 62 people in the world who have been diagnosed with the condition.
Research shows that for the average person, the earliest memory they can retrieve will be from when they were about two and a half years old.
As for Rebecca, her earliest dated memory is from when she was just 12 days old – but she claims she can also remember being a foetus in her mum’s womb.
Despite needing therapy for the condition, Rebecca says she “puts it to good use” and has been able to become fluent in two languages over the last 10 weeks alone.
Rebecca, an author and public speaker, from Brisbane, Australia, said: “My mind is just unable to let go of rubbish from the past.
“My earliest memory is possibly from when I was a foetus in the womb.
“The interesting thing is I don’t have to have any personal significance attached to a memory.
“They don’t need to mean much for some reason.
“At the moment, I’d say I can remember 95 per cent of everything that’s happened to me in my life.”
INTENSE FLASHBACKS
Rebecca wasn’t diagnosed with H-SAM until she was 21 years old, on January 23, 2011.
She says she was originally misdiagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) at the age of 16 because she’d “obsessively” relive past experiences.
Her childhood memories – like having toys taken away from her at school – would cause her genuine upset despite seeming “trivial”.
“I always put my flashbacks down to OCD,” she said.
“When I’d have a flashback my emotions would remember too.
“I don’t just remember the past – I get all the sensory information that I had in that moment.
I have this memory of me being scrunched up, having my head tucked between my legs. Researchers have told me this could’ve been from when I was in the womb.
Rebecca Sharrock
“When I’d relive a moment from my childhood, I’d feel immature emotions.
“Very often this would be from something that happened when I was very small.
“I’d become upset over trivial things – like when someone stole my lollipop in primary school.
“Or the time I built a Lego tower in preschool, and a kid came and knocked it over.
“Now I’d call it trivial – but I’d get such anger from it.
“And of course, when you’re really small, it’s not trivial.”
EARLIEST MEMORIES
Rebecca says her earliest dated memory was from December 23, 1989 – when she was just 12 days old and had her photo taken.
“I can remember everything from about 12 days old,” she said.
“The earliest one I can date, I had a photograph taken – and spent many years afterwards telling my mum about this experience.
“I do actually have some memory prior to that, though – but I couldn’t date them as I was too young to understand the concept of the calendar.”
Rebecca claims her “true” earliest memory was from when she was in the womb – or potentially in the minutes after being born.
All these flashbacks going through my mind are constant and throughout them I do experience insomnia. My mind will just never stay quiet
Rebecca Sharrock
She said: “The earliest recollection I have I can’t date because I was far too young.
“I have this memory of me being scrunched up, having my head tucked between my legs.
“Researchers have told me this could’ve been from when I was in the womb.
“Or, it could’ve been straight after being born.”
A BLESSING AND A CURSE
H-SAM can cause significant mental health issues and Rebecca says she struggles with insomnia and needs therapy for trauma and anxiety.
Often plagued by intense flashbacks at night, she’ll try to ease her insomnia by listening to classical music at night and has been prescribed valium to help her relax.
She added: “This memory condition is essentially a medical condition which does cause issues in my daily living.
“All these flashbacks going through my mind are constant and throughout them I do experience insomnia.
“My mind will just never stay quiet.
“I have to listen to classical music before I go to sleep – it keeps my mind away from flashbacks.
“But sometimes, if my mind is very chaotic, classical music won’t work, so I take valium which has been prescribed by my doctor.
“I have to have therapy, because H-SAM causes a lot of anxiety and depression.
“There are very few therapists who can treat my condition – so they have to borrow things from PTSD therapy. It’s quite experimental.”
What is highly superior autobiographical memory (H-SAM)?
PEOPLE with highly superior autobiographical memory (H-SAM) a superior ability to recall specific details of autobiographical events.
They tend to spend a large amount of time thinking about their past.
The neurological condition is incredibly rare and only 62 people across the world have been diagnosed with it.
H-SAM was first identified by researchers at the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at UC Irvine in 2006.
Professor James McGaugh and colleagues reported the first known case of H-SAM in a research participant known as “AJ”, later identified as Jill Price.
When provided with a date, Jill could specify on which day of the week it fell and what she did that day.
Since then, more people with this bizarre and extraordinary ability have been identified.
So far, the studies conducted at UC Irvine suggest that individuals with H-SAM have superior abilities in autobiographical memories, but are no different from other their on standard laboratory memory tests.
MRI studies of their brain also show that specific regions and networks may be different from the average person, though this work is still in its early stages.
Source: UCI
Rebecca has tried to harness her condition for something positive and started learning French and Spanish 10 weeks ago.
She went from a total beginner to near-fluent in two months.
“My French teacher is from Marseilles and I can have a conversation with her in French now,” she said.
“I can watch Spanish and French TV without subtitles.
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“Everything I’ve been taught in class I now know – it’s just a case of practicing my pronunciation.
“I’m hoping to learn Italian next.”
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