- [Narrator] Imagine remembering
every single day of your life,
all in perfect detail.
For those with highly superior autobiographical memory,
or H.S.A.M for short,
this is their reality.
- [Rebecca] I remember everything
that's personally happened to me since I was born.
- [Narrator] That's Rebecca Sharrock.
I was fascinated by this condition,
so I called her up to find out more.
(phone rings)
Hi, Rebecca.
- [Rebecca] Hi!
- [Narrator] How are you going?
- [Rebecca] I'm doing alright.
It's a very wet Saturday morning here.
How are you going?
- [Narrator] Side note, in this moment,
I just realized that Rebecca will remember
that this day was a wet morning forever.
So, you remember everything in great detail.
- [Rebecca] People can remember what they did last Saturday,
but I can remember what I did Saturday 10 years ago.
- [Narrator] What about a memory
from when you were just a baby?
- [Rebecca] When I was 12 days old,
I was lying down on the fur car seat
in my parent's car,
and I was staring up at the steering wheel,
and I thought, “What is that?"
- [Narrator] Rebecca is one of only 60 people worldwide
to have been identified with having H.S.A.M
- [Rebecca] All through my teenage years,
I thought that everybody remembered in this kind of way.
I thought it was completely normal.
- [Narrator] It wasn't until she was 21,
when her parents decided to submit her
to the university of California
to undergo two years of testing.
After this, she was officially identified as having H.S.A.M.
Since memories can come to mind unexpectedly,
any time of day,
a negative memory like this
can make living with H.S.A.M difficult.
- [Rebecca] Mom was putting me in this itchy satin dress,
and I was crying because I didn't like it,
and mom gave me this Minnie Mouse toy,
and I couldn't say anything at the time,
but her face terrified me.
- [Narrator] But on most days H.S.A.M is a gift.
Rebecca can recall happy memories and moments
when times get tough.
- [Rebecca] A good memory that makes me so thankful
about having this kind of H.S.A.M memory.
- [Narrator] Thanks for chatting Rebecca.
- [Rebecca] Yup, thanks.
- [Narrator] Bye.