'Taxi' Actress Marilu Henner Has Super-Rare Autobiographical Memory Ability

By Zach Dionne Posted Dec 20th 2010 11:02AM

'Taxi' star Marilu Henner was featured on Sunday's '60 Minutes' for a reason entirely separate from her celebrity status: The actress, 58, has an ultra-rare ability called "superior autobiographical memory," a status scientists have only designated to a minuscule handful of people around the world.

In short, Henner can remember almost every day of her life vividly and accurately. "A day 10 years ago is as clear to them as yesterday is to you or me," a voiceover explains.

The pitch to CBS reporter Lesley Stahl was to center around super-memory violinist Louise Owen, but Stahl says: "When I first heard about this research, what surprised me was not that this condition existed, but that it was considered so rare. That's because it sounded like a description of a friend of mine."

The friend is Marilu Henner. "I can rattle off almost every time I've seen you," Henner tells Stahl in conversation. The actress goes on to run through her shoe-closet and super-specifically cite the first time she wore many pairs. It sounds hokey, but rigorous tests and thorough reporting document this remarkable ability Henner and Owen possess. See the segment after the jump.

Part One (Marilu Henner portion of the segment begins at 6 minutes):

"Louise says she can remember every day of her life since age 11," Stahl says.

Owen's explanation of it? "It's almost as automatic as if you say, 'What is your name and where do you live?'"

Speaking with Henner, Stahl says: "You really do remember your whole life."

"It's like putting in a DVD and it queues up to a certain place," Henner answers. "I'm there again, so I'm looking out from my eyes and seeing things visually as I would have that day."

Part Two:

Tags: 60 Minutes, Marilu Henner

Comments

(185)

Monday 20 December

By pjmqone05

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Maybe she can help Tony Danza find where he left his balls. He makes Clay Aiken look like a linebacker.

By jbsasktheape3000

I know what happened to Danza? Did he turn gay or was he always gay?

By bdyftns

I think Sarah Palin has this gift.

By jj

Vote down Vote up Report this

if he lost them I would love to help him look for them..he still is grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!YUM!!

By Richard

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

On 60 minutes it was mentioned that there were six people with this memory recall. Where was the sixth and does this person have the same characteristics?

By Kathy

I watched the 60 minutes show. The sixth person, a woman, didn't want to meet the others.

By Kristina

There were 6 of them. There was one lady who didn't want to meet any of them. There were 3 girls and 3 guys, but since that one lady, who, I can't remember her name, didn't want to meet any of the others, she wasn't with the other 5 when they were together for the group part of the interview.

It wasn't that she didn't want to meet the other 5. She simply forgot what day it was.

By Marcia

My brother in law is one of these people who have this rare memory recall. It is amazing to hear him talk about his late parents and grandparents and every plate # on the automobiles, phone numbers, what he wore on certain days...absolutely amazing. He chooses not to be revealed due to past but I am thrilled to know that he is one of the few who carry this rare gift.

Monday 27 December

By shhaz

You noticed that apparent error, too! So did I and wonder if it was just an oversight. Should ask the memory people!!!!

By JenH

Wow. Most interesting thing I've read in ages. I have a somewhat photographic memory. I remember where I've put most things, where my husband puts things. I can remember 3 pages of scripts after reading them twice. I can recall visual memories of every year of my life. I also have a really good memory for trivia. My parents used to call me the entertainment encyclopedia because I could remember hundreds of movie actors' names, birthdates, spouses, children's names, movies, tv shows, etc. with no effort at all.

By skykingtom

I guess I am just average, but I can remember "important" things (important to me) I am above average in trivia, and I especially remember Dec. 7th 1941 when I was 5 years old and standing on the front porch beside my Grandfather in Cross W.Va. My uncle Harry came flying up the "dirt" road, in his new (black) 1941 Ford, jumped out of his car and said "Pop, turn on the radio, the Japs just bombed Pearl Harbor". At that time, electricity had not yet reached my Grandfather's house, but the house was wired with 6 volt which was supplied by a bank of batteries and a "Delco Plant Generator" in the "cellar". My Grandfather turned on the "Montgomery Ward Air Castle" radio (three feet tall oith a yellow dial and in the center was a castle) and we all stood around and listened to the news. It was a warm day. Little did my Grandfather envision his youngest son being killed on Okinawa by the Japanese on June 13, 1944.

By skykingtak

My Grandmother was one of the most (lovable) uninformed, out of the loop, clueless people that I ever met, yet she would sit down and play the piano without missing a note (never took a lesson) without even looking down. As a child, I was amazed at this and asked her one day how she learded to play and she said, "I always knew" So there are many "degrees" of intelligence that are a mystery.

By renida taylor

I used to have a photographic memory for numbers.. I would identify people by their lic. # and I could remember part#'s after looking them up just once for Volkswagen, Volvo and Mazda cars. I still remember some of them.. and if 5 people at a table rattled off their phone #'s, I never had to write them down-tell me once and I've got it. There must be a lot about memory that they don't know about.

I have the same thing for numbers. I remember the Social security numbers for my parents, my husband, mine, my son's, phone numbers, insurance ID numbers, license plates, etc. I still remember the license plate number of my mom's 1990 Mazda 626 that she sold back in '96.

By colleen

I have the opposite of that.

By Marcee

WOW. That is remarkable JenH. How old are you? Well, I was good at remembering those things. As the years have gone by, memory (mine) is fading. Not that I want it to. Just happens naturally. For sure, Marilu's story is absolutely amazing. I loved reading it. Did not watch the 60-Minute program.

By Rooftop Voter

I can't remember where I left my keys; and that was 5 minutes ago...............

I'm 28. I will admit my memory isn't quite as sharp now as it was 6 or 7 years ago, but I think it's because I'm out of practice... LOL. I'm a stay at home mommy to a 21 month old. That kind of zaps your brain cells. It's still good enough to tell my husband where everything is, (important things like binkies, bills, and a can of corn... you know.) HA.

By quag54

Yeah and I can...what were we talking about ?

Page 1 of 10