58-year-old resident of the United States is officially recognized as "the man who does not forget anything."
Bob Petrella from Los Angeles remembers the dates of all the significant events in his own life, phone numbers, the content of conversations and even accounts in the football matches he has seen. Scientists learned about his amazing abilities last year during a study conducted by the University of California, says NTVru.com, citing The Daily Telegraph.
Bob Petrella remembers the dates he met all of his friends and practically all the conversations he had over the past 53 years. For the first time he learned about his unusual abilities at school: he could easily complete any test without repeating the material he had passed.
Scientists have found that a man has a phenomenally developed autobiographical memory. In total, four such people are known in the world. Experts still do not know what this is connected with and how the "super memory" works.
According to Bob Petrella, he was always aware of his giftedness, but did not want to talk about it publicly. According to him, people who find out about his talent usually believe that he suffers from savant syndrome (which is usually associated with developmental delays) or do not believe him.
Petrella himself is used to his own phenomenal memory, although he cannot explain its nature. "I remember things best if I'm interested in them, whether it's sports events, historical or political dates, or just days from my past."
Starting from the age of five, he remembers in detail from 25 to 50% of the days lived. He remembers all his birthdays since the fifth, all the New Year's celebrations over the past forty years. Since 1971, Petrella has watched the Oscars and can name all the winners from that time on.
Petrella is able to name the exact day when this or that event, covered in the news, remembers the accounts of football matches of the past.
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An American with a phenomenal memory remembers all the phone numbers of his acquaintances by heart and therefore does not use the phone book. Once he lost his mobile phone, he was able to restore the list of contacts from memory.
Curiously, the first person with a phenomenal autobiographical memory was also a resident of Los Angeles. Jill Price wrote a book about herself called The Woman Who Can't Forget.
The Center for Neuroscience and the Study of Memory at the University of California has researched about 2,000 people in a search for people like Bob Petrella. Doctors asked the participants of the experiment 60 questions, which could only be answered by a person who remembers the past in every detail.