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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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设想一下如果你能回忆起过去发生的每件事，你的大脑就像一本容量无限的百科剪贴簿，收录着名字、图片、日期和各种事件……
美国威斯康星州的布拉德•威廉姆斯就是这样一个记忆超凡的人，他能清楚记得过去发生的每件事，简直就是个真人版Google。他几乎能回忆起过去的每个新闻和他经历过的每件事，就连当时的具体日期和天气情况他也记得。
51岁的威廉姆斯在接受“早安，美国”的采访时说：“我是全家人的Google。我几乎记得过去发生的每件事。”
威廉姆斯的这种超级记忆能力被称为“超忆症”，在全世界相当罕见。目前，加利福尼亚大学的学习与记忆神经生物学研究中心的神经学专家正在对布拉德的脑部扫描进行研究。
威廉姆斯是一名交通广播电台播音员。起初他并没意识到自己的奇异能力，可多年来，他周围的人慢慢注意到，对于同样一件过去发生的事，他能清楚的记得其中的细节。
2006年，威廉姆斯看到一个被科学家称为AJ的“超忆”女子的故事。
布拉德的弟弟艾埃里克说：“看到AJ的故事，我马上想到，‘天哪!这不就是布拉德吗？’”
埃里克对哥哥大脑的内部“工作机制”十分好奇。他现在正在给布拉德制作一部纪录片，题目就叫《难以忘却的记忆》。
目前该纪录片的制作还未完成。在影片中，威廉姆斯与一个使用Google搜索的人比赛答题。
比赛共设20道题，威廉姆斯答对了其中的18道，而且比使用Google快11分钟。
埃里克说：“我们每个人的大脑都有储存信息的能力，但布拉德与常人的不同在于，他能回忆起这些信息。”
“早安，美国”的主持人克里斯·库莫在节目中问布拉德是否还记得上小学时的一次成绩。
布拉德自嘲说：“我想把它忘了。”可他还是答对了，成绩是B。
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（英语点津姗姗编辑）
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