An interview with the woman who can't forget

The WBUR/NPR programme On Point has a very interesting interview with Jill Price (right), a 42-year-old woman from Los Angeles who has a "non-stop, uncontrollable and automatic" episodic memory.

Known in the scientific literature as A.J., Price is the first documented case of hyperthymestic syndrome, a condition in which autobiographical memories cannot be forgotten. Consequently, Price recalls every miniscule detail of her life since the age of 14, "like a movie" which is played over and over again on a daily basis.

Since Price's case was first reported in 2006, a handful of people have come forward claiming to have hyperthymesia, but so far the condition has been confirmed in only two others: Brad Williams from Wisconsin and Rick Baron from Ohio.

One of the guests on the WBUR/NPR programme is Larry Cahill, an associate professor of neurology and behaviour at the University of California, Irvine, who co-authored the 2006 paper in which Price's case was first reported.

(Jill Price's memoir, The Woman Who Can't Forget, which was written with Bart Davis, was published earlier this month; the photograph of Price comes from this USA Today story.)

Related:

• The man who never forgets
• Remembering Henry M.