Jill Price (née Rosenberg, born December 30, 1965) is an
American author from
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
,
who has been diagnosed with
hyperthymesia. She was the first person to receive such a diagnosis, and it was her case that inspired research into hyperthymesia. She has co-authored a book on the subject.
Abilities
Price is able to recite details of every day of her life from the time when she was fourteen years old.
[Gray, Keturah; Escherich, Katie]
'It Makes Me Crazy: Woman Can't Forget
, ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to:
* ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company
ABC News may a ...
May 9, 2008 She can recall various obscure moments of her life in great detail.
Her condition, termed hyperthymesia, or "hyperthymestic syndrome", is characterized by a highly superior autobiographical memory.
Her case was originally researched by a team at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
: Elizabeth Parker; Larry Cahill; and
James McGaugh.
Originally anonymised as "AJ", Price was described as being able to recall every day of her life from when she was 14 years old: "Starting on February 5th, 1980, I remember everything. That was a Tuesday."
The first report on the study of her brain was published in 2006.
In 2008, with Bart Davis, she wrote the book ''The Woman Who Can't Forget'', explaining her life with the condition. The book has allowed her popularity to soar internationally, leading to a demand in public appearances.
Price's brain was subject to a
brain scan
Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incre ...
and the
hippocampus
The hippocampus (: hippocampi; via Latin from Ancient Greek, Greek , 'seahorse'), also hippocampus proper, is a major component of the brain of humans and many other vertebrates. In the human brain the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, and the ...
and
prefrontal cortex
In mammalian brain anatomy, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) covers the front part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. It is the association cortex in the frontal lobe. The PFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA11, BA12, ...
were reportedly normal. It was claimed by research psychologist
Gary Marcus, however, that her brain resembled those of people with
obsessive compulsive disorder
Obsession may refer to:
Psychology
* Celebrity worship syndrome, obsessive addictive disorder to a celebrity's personal and professional life
* Obsession (psychology), a persistent attachment to an object or idea
* Fixation (psychology), persi ...
(OCD). Based upon tests he performed on her as well as personal observations, Marcus has speculated that her unusual autobiographical memory is actually a byproduct of compulsively making journal and diary entries.
Price has since reacted angrily to such claims and McGaugh has also expressed skepticism for such an explanation.
[ In September 2012, Price gave her first interview in over a year for the UK's ]Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
documentary ''The Boy Who Can't Forget'' and provided an insight into just how difficult life can be for people who have this condition.[''The Boy Who Can't Forget'']
UK, channel4.com, first broadcast 25 September 2012
Research scientist Dr. Julia Simner, at the Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
, has speculated that her abilities are intimately tied to her visualizations of time in space, a form of synesthesia
Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with sy ...
.
Published works
Price, J. and Davis, B. 2008, ''The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science—A Memoir'', Free Press,
References
External links
ABC News article
Blessed and Cursed by an Extraordinary Memory : NPR Talk of the Nation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Jill
1965 births
Living people
American women writers
21st-century American women
Famous patients