When Rebecca Sharrock was just 12 days old, she remembers being placed on the front seat of her parents’ car, wrapped in a pink blanket. Most babies forget those early moments. Rebecca didn’t. In fact, she can’t forget anything at all. Every single day of her life, from infancy to now, is stored in her mind like a film reel she can rewind at will. Her rare condition means that forgetting is not just difficult — it’s impossible.
The Mind That Records Everything
Rebecca lives in Brisbane, Australia, and she has a brain that scientists around the world are still trying to understand. She is one of fewer than 100 people globally diagnosed with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or H-SAM. This rare condition allows her to remember almost every day of her life in incredible detail.
While many people struggle to recall what they had for lunch last Tuesday, Rebecca can tell you what she ate, what the weather was like, the clothes she wore, the emotions she felt, and what song was playing in the background. Her recall isn’t limited to meaningful events. Even mundane moments stay with her, vivid as the day they happened.
She once said she could recite whole books, including the entire Harry Potter series, word-for-word. She remembers learning them by heart as a child and never needing to revisit the pages again to keep them in her memory.
A Superpower With a Price
At first glance, Rebecca’s memory sounds like a superpower. But behind the brilliance is a daily struggle. Because she remembers everything so clearly, she relives old arguments, awkward moments, and emotional pain with the same force as when they first happened. Unlike most people, she can’t soften or forget her mistakes. They haunt her, sometimes daily.
Negative memories come flooding back without warning, triggering physical stress and emotional exhaustion. Rebecca often experiences flashbacks so strong that she has to stop whatever she’s doing to recover. Her brain doesn’t filter. It keeps every emotion tied to every memory, whether it happened yesterday or twenty years ago.
She has described needing to listen to classical music or build LEGO sets to calm her mind. At night, her thoughts race so much that she struggles to fall asleep. The mental noise never fully goes quiet.
Diagnosed Later Than Expected
Rebecca’s parents noticed early on that something was different. But it wasn’t until she was in her early twenties that she received a diagnosis. At first, doctors thought she had obsessive-compulsive disorder, because of her intense routines and memory loops. While she does have both autism and OCD, further studies showed her recall abilities went far beyond any typical condition.
Scientists at the University of Queensland have since taken a keen interest in her brain. They’ve done scans, run memory tests, and studied how her brain processes and stores information. Interestingly, people with H-SAM don’t necessarily perform better on regular memory tests. Their brains are not photographic, but they are highly organised when it comes to recalling personal experiences.
Researchers believe there may be a connection between H-SAM and obsessive mental patterns. People with this condition often ruminate, meaning they go over and over things in their mind. This repetition could strengthen memory traces, making them last forever.
Living With a Non-Stop Memory
Daily life with H-SAM isn’t simple. Rebecca takes medication to manage anxiety and panic attacks caused by emotional overload. Even happy memories, when they pop up unexpectedly, can be distracting. It’s hard to live in the present when the past is constantly knocking.
Despite the challenges, Rebecca has found ways to use her memory in positive ways. She writes, gives talks, and works with scientists to help understand how memory works. She’s even helped researchers learn more about Alzheimer’s and memory loss conditions by offering the opposite view — a life where memory is too strong instead of too weak.
