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The inability to "travel mentally in time" is the most recent memory disorder that intrigues researchers. Although most sufferers do not realize it, it may be more common than we think. 19659002] Susie McKinnon does not remember her childhood or any other stage of her previous life in which she now lives at the age of 60. Nor remember special events. He knows that he went to his nephew's wedding. She knows that her husband accompanied her. But he does not remember being there.
In fact, has very few memories of his life, although he has no amnesia.
For many years, McKinnon had no idea of the difference in life, as we tended to badume that our minds function like those of others. In general, we do not discuss the feeling of memory. And McKinnon badumed that when people told stories of their past, they invented the details to entertain others.
It was not until a medical practitioner friend asked her if she could do a memory test as part of her studies that they realized that McKinnon lacked autobiographical memory.
After that, McKinnon investigated amnesia, but the stories of people who lost their memory as a result of an illness or brain injury did not reflect their experience . She remembered that the events had unfolded and that could not remember how was to live them.
A new syndrome
A little more than a decade ago, after fracturing her foot, she searched for activities spends time and begins reading research on mental trips to over time and makes the decision to contact a researcher in this area.
The day he wrote an e-mail to Brian Levine, a scientist in the memory of The Rotman Research Institute in Baycrest, Toronto, she was nervous. For Levine, it was one of the most interesting days of his career. And the result of their communication was the identification of a new syndrome: Severe deficit of autobiographical memory .
Humans have the extraordinary ability to travel mentally in at the time in minds at will. Do not forget that when you were in elementary school, or imagine that next week you will be sitting on a towel on the beach watching the dolphins swim to the horizon. Probably, not only do you imagine the facts of these scenarios, but also the experience of your presence, and that is precisely what McKinnon can not do.
As Brian Levine told me on the BBC radio show, All in the spirit "for her, past events are experienced almost as if they had gone to the third person ] as if they were past experiences of another person. "
And to some extent, we do all, forgetting most things that happen to us, but for McKinnon, it's a lot more extreme.
How is it different from amnesia?
This syndrome is very different from amnesia, that usually occurs after a particular event or brain injury and makes it difficult to retain it. new information to create new memories.
People with severe autobiographical memory impairment syndrome (or SDAM) can learn and keep new information, but this information lacks the richness of lived experience.
If McKinnon can remember the details of an event, it's because she saw an image or deliberately learned a story about what happened. You can not imagine having been there or what you were wearing or who you were with.
"It could have been another person my family and not I. In my mind, I have no proof of my presence, it does not give me the impression of "
This means that McKinnon can not feel nostalgia for reliving the best moments of life . The advantage is that can not remember either the pain badociated with bad experiences. Difficult times, such as the death of a parent, are just as intense at the time , but with time, the feeling fades.
This can make her a better person, since she does not hold a grudge because she can not evoke the ". emotion that made him feel bad in the first instance.
As for the cause, up to p resent, the researchers found no disease or injury related to this problem and concluded that people had been born this way. Although Levine and his team continue to study possible links with other disorders.
The Inability to Mentally Visualize
McKinnon also has a fantasy, that means that he can not view any images. It is difficult to know for sure if this prevents you from keeping intense memories in relation to other people. Decades of memory research have shown that we are rebuilding an event in the mind every time we remember it, but we do not know if we all do it the same way.
Some may see an image or video in their mind, others may think more in terms of abstract ideas or facts.
Catherine Loveday, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Westminster, wonders if there are similarities in our early memories. We can remember events that happened to us before the age of three, because we could have heard about it or see pictures. But we have trouble remembering how the experience was felt.
For the moment, it is unclear what is the prevalence of SDAM, although Levine and his team are trying to find out by means of an online survey. 5,000 people have already participated and many say they believe they have this problem. Although it's a self-selected sample, the figures suggest that might be more common than we think.
The team at Levine is studying the idea that autobiographical memory might be in a spectrum in which the SDAM would be at an extreme, while the People with a very good autobiographical memory, who seldom forget something as bbad as it is, would end up in each other.
So, does it matter if you have this problem?
If SDAM does not affect your way of life, probably not.
In McKinnon's case, she has always lived this way. Knowing she is a trouble that probably has her whole life is just an interesting fact that gives meaning to the differences she has sometimes noticed between her and him. From Other People Now, understand, for example, that others do not invent stories.
"My experience has never been different, so is not a loss he said.
" Since I've never had this ability (remembering something in the past or visualizing events), I can not feel the lack of it. "
And McKinnon sees another advantage: not thinking about the past or dreaming about the future. [19659002] "I know that many people have trouble keeping this notion of the moment, but for me it's very simple because is the only way my brain works . So I still live the moment all the time "
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