Petrella is one of 11 individuals who have now been extensively studied by memory researcher James McGaugh at the University of California, Irvine. The testing has shown that Petrella and the others like him don’t use memory tricks.
They don’t have photographic memories. They’re not savants. Other than their remarkable memories, they’re normal, says McGaugh.
“They’re reasonably successful in what they do. There is a professional violinist; there is Marilu Henner, who is a successful actress … and so on,” McGaugh says.
Surprisingly, Petrella and the group didn’t do any better than you or I would on most standard memory tests — like repeating back lists of words, or a string of numbers. It’s their autobiographical memory that’s exceptional. Other types of memory are pretty much normal.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member