Total Recall

Student can remember every single day of his life thanks to rare condition

Can you remember what happened on May 15, 2007 – or what the weather was like on August 30, 2004? A student by the name of Aurélien can. Effortlessly.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/912981-student-can-remember-every-single-day-of-his-life-thanks-to-rare-condition#ixzz2CAdwIeXm

The 20-year-old is the first person in Britain to emerge with an ability to recall virtually any day of his life since he was four. 

Asked at random what he did on June 17, 2008 and he can say it was a Tuesday, sunny and the first day after his GSCEs. He spent most of the day clearing up his bedroom and went out for a curry. 

‘I remember watching Loose Women with my mum and Joan Rivers got thrown off for swearing on live TV,’ he added. 

Aurélien, who appears in a Channel 4 documentary tomorrow entitled The Boy Who Can’t Forget, claims he uses no special techniques for his ability – known as a superior autobiographical memory. 

‘It’s odd to communicate that I can just remember those sorts of things without even trying, without them having any importance – I just remember them,’ he said. 

Prof Giuliana Mazzoni, who carried out research on the case, said Aurélien’s gift may change the way we think about how memory works. 

But US school administrator Jill Price, the first person found to have the condition, said her memory had ‘ruled’ her life as she was forced to relive decisions in her head over and over again. 

‘There are a lot of complex emotions going along with not being able to forget,’ she said.

Metro UK