Highly superior autobiographical memory in early adolescence: A single case study

Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) is a rare condition characterised by an exceptional ability to recall personal past experiences in remarkable detail and with great accuracy. Although HSAM has been extensively documented in adults, the age at which it first manifests remains unknown. Here, we present the first documented case of HSAM in early adolescence. A 13-year-old boy (AA) underwent assessment using a newly developed personalised autobiographical memory test modelled on established adult HSAM screening procedures. AA's performance was then compared with that of six age-matched controls and his younger sister. Additional neuropsychological, cognitive, and behavioural assessments were administered to evaluate potential differences beyond autobiographical recall. AA achieved near-perfect accuracy in recalling public, school and personal life events, significantly outperforming all of the other participants, while exhibiting a typical cognitive and behavioural profile in all other areas, as well as obsessiveness/compulsiveness tendencies like those observed in several adults with HSAM. These findings show that HSAM can appear during early adolescence, before the age typically associated with the full development of autobiographical memory capacity (around 15–17 years old). The early manifestation of HSAM poses a challenge to classical models of memory development, suggesting an accelerated or atypical trajectory of autobiographical memory maturation. While presenting a novel, sensitive approach with the capacity to identify HSAM in its developmental stages, this study also provides novel insights into the development of exceptional forms of autobiographical memory.