Only a handful of people in the world have a condition called ‘super memory.’

Not many can remember where they put their car keys yesterday, let alone recalling what they had for lunch on a certain day 2 decades ago. But some can, and this is the lot that scientists describe as having a super memory.

These people are very few in the whole wide world, and research has established what makes their brains special. In fact, as at 2012, only 33 had been confirmed to have a super memory. A study by researchers at University of California, Irvine involved 11 individuals with the condition and noted the distinct quirks in nine structures of their brains. The differences, most of them, lay in areas affiliated with autobiographical memory. They also happened to have more white matter connecting the middle and front parts of their brain compared to a group of control subjects.
The super memory phenomenon is also known as hyperthymesia, and it was first described by scientists in 2006. Over 500 people (as of 2012) who thought they may have the superior autobiographical memory had been evaluated but only the 33 aforementioned cases were confirmed, including the 11 featured in the study. A further 37 ‘strong candidates’ were also identified, but these needed further testing.