If you ask Brad Williams what happened on April 10, 1970, he will immediately be able to tell you that it was a Friday and the day that Paul McCartney left The Beatles. That is because Brad Williams is one of only 20 people documented to have hyperthymestic syndrome.
Hyperthymestic syndrome is a condition in which an individual possesses a superior autobiographical memory. Essentially, Williams can pinpoint any day of any year and remember detailed information of that day, so long as it is something he sees as relevant. Williams’ incredible ability, which has earned him the nickname of “The Human Google,” has also landed him interviews on shows like “Good Morning, America,” “60 Minutes” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” He is also the focus of a documentary film by his brother titled “Unforgettable,” which chronicles the characteristics of his condition, as well as his public appearances.
Williams spoke along with Elizabethtown College’s own Dr. John Teske, professor of psychology, at the Bowers Writers House on Thurs., Oct. 18. They discussed Williams’ rare condition, and exactly what it enables him to do. “I can’t remember everything,” Williams said, whose brain has been studied by scientists at the University of California at Irvine for the past six years. “What allows me to tie certain events and dates together is how personally significant they are to me.” Teske explained to the audience the clinical meaning and psychological relevance behind Williams’ superior autobiographical memory and his ability to relate different things together. “Some of your background of things that are important to you autobiographically are things that have to do with things that you would have memorized,” Teske said. “When you learn stuff, you link new things you know with other things you already knew, because that makes them more vivid and more important to you. It’s about personal relevance, what you find interesting and exciting. You can then code more and have more associations to because it holds personal significance.”
Williams, who founded the website Triviazoids in which he takes interesting bits of trivia for each day of the calendar year and relates them to each other based on significance, currently works for a radio station in La Crosse, Wisc. Williams’ ability to relate things to each other prompted Teske to ask him what makes someone an expert. “That’s what they are trying to figure out,” Williams said, referring to the study of his brain by UC-Irvine scientists. “One of the things they have discovered in their research is that people like me have an exponentially larger nuclei than the average person.” The nuclei is the part of the brain that helps store memory.
Teske noted that people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder generally have a more active nucleus and asked Williams if he thought that might be of any significance to his condition. “They seemed to have linked to that, but it is going to be something that requires a lot more studies,” Williams said.
Also discussed by the two speakers were the rare occasions on which Williams may actually draw a blank on something that is personally significant to him. In his documentary “Unforgettable,” when appearing on “Good Morning, America,” one of the hosts asked Williams the significance of the date April 10, 1970. Williams drew a blank and could not answer the question. After the show, Williams’ frustration of not remembering was evident and he appeared deep in thought, knowing he knew the significance of the date. When he got back to his hotel, Williams’ head shot up, snapped his fingers, and said “That is the day Paul McCartney left The Beatles!”
The process of drawing a blank and then remembering soon after is something Williams calls the “mouse in the maze” theory. “If you put a mouse in a maze with cheese at the end of it, it may get lost, but it will eventually find the cheese,” Williams said, referring to his ability to find answers even if he cannot recall them upon initially being asked.
At the end of the lecture, curator Jesse Waters of the Bowers Writers House challenged Williams by seeing if he could find answers faster than Google. One of Williams’ most knowledgeable areas is film, so Waters asked him to name Academy Award nominees and winners for three different years. Williams was able to name each and every recipient that Waters challenged him to answer. A member of the audience also challenged Williams to name the day of the week of her birthday, April 26, 1991. He correctly identified that day as a Friday.
Williams’ relevance to the field of psychology and science was a beneficial experience for students in the audience who could appreciate the significance of his rare and unusual condition. His personal testimony of his unusual condition along with Teske’s expert analysis and explanations to the students in attendance provided an excellent educational experience for Etown students.