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Brad Williams is a "Google man"
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Imagine being able to recall just about anything, your mind functioning as a nearly endless encyclopedic scrapbook of names, pictures, dates and events.
Wisconsin resident Brad Williams' total recall makes him a personified version of Google. His extensive memory allows him to recall almost any news event and anything he has experienced, including specific dates and even the weather.
"I was sort of a human Google for my family. I've always been able to recall things," the 51-year-old said on "Good Morning America" .
Williams' type of detailed, exhaustive memory is called hyperthymesia and few known cases exist. Brad's brain scans are now being studied by neuroscientists at the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the Univeristy of California.
Initially, the drive-time radio broadcaster didn't think his ability to recall so much was anything special. Gradually over the years other people noticed how much he was able to remember in detail about the same events, Williams said.
Then in 2006, he read an article about a superior-memory woman whom scientists called AJ.
"When I read about AJ my immediate thought was, 'Oh my God. That's Brad," said Williams' brother Eric Williams.
Eric Williams is intrigued about the inner workings of his brother's mind. Eric Williams is in the process of making a documentary about Brad, appropriately titled "Unforgettable."
In the film, which hasn't been completed yet, Williams takes on a person who is Googling answers to 20 questions.
He answered 18 of them correctly and was 11 minutes faster than the searcher.
"All of us have the ability to store all this information and the difference with Brad is he can retrieve it," Eric Williams said.
Williams remembered a grade he got in grade school, when anchor Chris Cuomo quizzed him about it on "GMA."
"I try to forget that," Williams quipped. But he gave the correct answer: B.
(Agencies) |
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設想一下如果你能回憶起過去發生的每件事，你的大腦就像一本容量無限的百科剪貼簿，收錄著名字、圖片、日期和各種事件……
美國威斯康星州的布拉德?威廉姆斯就是這樣一個記憶超凡的人，他能清楚記得過去發生的每件事，簡直就是個真人版Google。他幾乎能回憶起過去的每個新聞和他經歷過的每件事，就連當時的具體日期和天氣情況他也記得。
51歲的威廉姆斯在接受“早安，美國”的采訪時說：“我是全家人的Google。我幾乎記得過去發生的每件事。”
威廉姆斯的這種超級記憶能力被稱為“超憶癥”，在全世界相當罕見。目前，加利福尼亞大學的學習與記憶神經生物學研究中心的神經學專家正在對布拉德的腦部掃描進行研究。
威廉姆斯是一名交通廣播電臺播音員。起初他并沒意識到自己的奇異能力，可多年來，他周圍的人慢慢注意到，對于同樣一件過去發生的事，他能清楚的記得其中的細節。
2006年，威廉姆斯看到一個被科學家稱為AJ的“超憶”女子的故事。
布拉德的弟弟艾埃里克說：“看到AJ的故事，我馬上想到，‘天哪!這不就是布拉德嗎？’”
埃里克對哥哥大腦的內部“工作機制”十分好奇。他現在正在給布拉德制作一部紀錄片，題目就叫《難以忘卻的記憶》。
目前該紀錄片的制作還未完成。在影片中，威廉姆斯與一個使用Google搜索的人比賽答題。
比賽共設20道題，威廉姆斯答對了其中的18道，而且比使用Google快11分鐘。
埃里克說：“我們每個人的大腦都有儲存信息的能力，但布拉德與常人的不同在于，他能回憶起這些信息。”
“早安，美國”的主持人克里斯·庫莫在節目中問布拉德是否還記得上小學時的一次成績。
布拉德自嘲說：“我想把它忘了。”可他還是答對了，成績是B。
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（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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