Stephen's subject for this thread immediately brought forth from the depths of my memory the title of a book, *Mind of a Mnemonist* by Alexander Luria, based on a thirty year systematic observation of a mnemonist, starting in the 1920s in the USSR. In his Foreword to the 1968 English translation Jerome Bruner writes: "As a contribution to the clinical literature on memory pathology, this book will surely rank as a classic."
The whole book is online at http://www.scribd.com/doc/12983496/Alexander-Luria-The-Mind-of-a-Mnemonist Luria reports that "some of these experiments [fifty or more random words or numbers read out] designed to test his retention were performed (without his being given any warning) fifteen or sixteen years after the session in which he had originally recalled the words. Yet invariably they were successful." Another example of this mnemonist's extraordinary abilities, from Luria's records: "Would you like to see me raise the temperature of my right hand and lower that of my left?" We used a skin thermometer to check the temperature of both hands and found they were the same. After a minute had passed, then another, he said: "All right, begin!" We attached the thermometer to the skin on his right hand and found that the temperature had risen two degrees. As for his left hand, after S. paused for a minute and then announced he was ready, the reading showed that the temperature of his left hand had dropped one and a half degrees. What could this mean? How was it possible for him to control the temperature of his body at will? "No, there's nothing to be amazed at. I saw myself put my right hand on a hot stove… Oi, was it hot! So, naturally, the temperature of my hand increased. But I was holding a piece of ice in my left hand. I could see it there and began to squeeze it. And, of course, my hand got colder…" Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From: sbl...@ubishops.ca Subject: Minds of Mnemonists Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 11:44:33 -0500 I've been meaning to recommend this remarkable recent segment on the the USA TV programme "60 Minutes". It concerns a small group of adults who have what is being called, with understatement, "superior autobiographical memory". The segment is called "The Gift of Endless Memory" and it's at http://tinyurl.com/2594p8z (videos and trascript). The researcher involved is the eminent James McGaugh, professor of neurobiology at the University of California Irvine. Their apparently effortless ability to remember life events (calendar dates and what happened on them) is astounding, rivaling that of autistic calculators (which these people are not). And the memories have been documented. As a bonus, the 60 Minutes interviewer, Lesley Stahl, was able to add to McGaugh's small group of such people her friend, the actress Marilu Henner, fondly remembered by many for her work in the sitcom "Taxi" which ran between 1978 and 1983. She's pretty good, too (in memory, as in sit-com). Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7596 or send a blank email to leave-7596-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
