'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.




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What a bunch of crap....the obvious question is "how would you know when they're simply LYING?".
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I thought it odd that they "all" happened to be "caucasian"!
They were not able to find "any" minorities with this ability?
I also felt cheated, when 60 minutes failed to ask if any of them had recalled experiences from a past life! I think that would help to answer the reincarnation question; Or, perhaps, if either of them could see an event from a future calendar date; say, January 5, 2011? I'm not a journalist, but it seems that the average person would have been interested in those possibilities, since they were doing "research" on the phenomenon.
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Cute too.
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I think you have a very valid point!
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This segment on 60 minutes answered a lot of questions I've had about my own life. I was spell-bound. So many times in my life I've heard the phrase, "How could you possibly remember that?"
--Because it's just there. I can describe things in detail that happened 40 years ago. I finally feel semi-sane, I'm not the only one with this strange ability. I am nowhere close to the level of the people on 60 minutes, but I can pretty much tell you every thing that happened in my life. And it's just the way all said it -- It's just there.
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I too have total recall.
I remember going to the dance with my father and going home with my mother.
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I cant REMEMBER Crap, I know Im the dumbest person alive!
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I think everyones memory gets longer with age. Everyone has that something they will never forget. If you remember the samething in ten years, your memory has gotten longer!
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DID ANYONE NOTICE THAT HENNER NOTED A DATE OF AN EVENT AND ALSO NOTED THE ACTUAL DAY OF THE WEEK? ON CHECKING THE CALENDAR THERE WAS NO MATCH. SO MUCH FOR MEMORY. ANYWAYS, THIS RESEARCH IS REDUNDANT. IF SOMEONE CAN PREDICT ACCURATELY FUTURE EVENTS, WELL, THAT HAS MERIT. ISN'T IT CURIOUS THAT THESE PEOPLE CLAIM THAT THEY CAN REMEMBER A PARTICULAR THING ON A CERTAIN DAY BUT NOTHING ELSE? FOR EXAMPLE, THEY MIGHT CLAIM THAT AT 3:00 P.M. ON SEPTEMBER 29, 1951 A BASEBALL PLAYER DID A REMARKABLE THING. WELL, WHAT ABOUT 5:00 P.M.? WHAT DO THEY REMEMBER? IF MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT LESLEY STAHL DIDN'T PURSUE THAT AVENUE. OBJECTIVE REPORTING WOULD HAVE HER ASKING THOROUGH QUESTIONS WHICH STAHL DIDN'T DO.
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Horsechit I remember everyday of my life as long as nobody I know was there for anyof it!!!
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I have a photographic memory. If someone reads something to me, I have trouble remembering. But, if I see it, or read it, I can remember it. I figure the rest of my memory is leaking out my ears. lol
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What was the question again?
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What does that putrid picture of Justin Bieber have to do with the Marilu Henner article? Why is it even there? This kid is a brainless, twit with no talent.
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Funniest thing,,, i do .remember ,,engaging in sexual relations with that woman,, marilu henner,, however, at this time, i cannot recall if it was any good,, and i think if you ask her, i dont think shed remember either,,
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I never forget... I can remember back to 1 year old or less... just ask me.
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Ever since Mensa told me that I had an IQ of 153 ( top 1% )
I have been fascinated with the different ways the brain works.
This is a very interesting concept ( condition? )I do not have it
and I'm not so sure that I would want it, but it would be fun to play Trivia with someone like that.
Since parts of our bodies and faces are different from one another, why shouldn't the brain develop in various ways as well?
Very interesting !!!
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Democrat Senators have the same gift the other way around, they know what they did but they don't want you to find out.
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I agree with Charles Spero,
"OBJECTIVE REPORTING WOULD HAVE HER ASKING THOROUGH QUESTIONS WHICH STAHL DIDN'T DO."
This is what I was saying earlie; I use to think "60 Minutes" was a credible program. If I had written an article like this in high school, my instructors would have flunked me! So many logical questions they failed to ask! Amounted to a weak info-mercial.
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super memory I AM 58 ALSO CAN GO BACK AS EARLY AS I CAN REMEMBER.I CAN TELL ALL MY VACATIONS. NEVER NEEDED A DIARY.I ALSO CAN CONTROL IT FOR BAD MEMORIES. LYNN
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I didn't know that this phenomenon exists. I have the same total recollections, times, places events, and even dialogues, going back as far as my early childhood. Thanks for sharing.
A.M
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