JIll Price has a gift. Ask her what happened on March 13, 1981 and she can tell you exactly.
"Reagan was shot, and that was a Monday," Jill said.
She also has no problem recalling the precise date the Challenger crashed.
"That was Tuesday, the 28th of January, 1986," she said.
Or when Charles and Diana were married.
"Of course I do. Wednesday the 29th of July, 1981," Jill said.
In fact -- Jill remembers every detail of her life since she was 14 years old.
= "I am completely in the moment, but I also have this split-screen in my head that is always running. It's just random memories always just flowing," Jill said.
Jill's case raises the questions: why do we remember? And why do we forget? Neuro-biologist James mcGaugh says we develop strong memories when we experience an emotional arousal.
"If you are excited, emotionally excited, about something, you're going to remember it better," Dr. McGaugh said.
When we get excited, the body's adrenal glands release stress hormones that travel through the bloodstream and turn on an area of the brain -- called the Amygdala
"It's difficult to convey the complexity, the extraordinary complexity that's sitting between your ears," Dr. Gary Lynch said.
But doctor Gary Lynch has come closer than most scientists. he's captured actual images of memories being formed in animals.
"It's a needle in the needle in the haystack problem, and I think we solved that problem," Lynch said.
In this image of a brain cell, the yellow color is a synapse that has changed -- meaning you are actually seeing a memory being formed. It's a step forward, but there's still so much scientists don't know about memory.
"They just sat there scratching their heads for a long time," Jill said.
Researchers want to follow Jill throughout her life -- hoping to provide answers.
