So…a few weeks ago, I geeked out by citing a bunch of sciency stuff about the real-life possibility of time travel, only half of which I actually understood. However, this past week, an article caught my eye about a young woman who could mentally time-travel to the point that it was actually considered a superpower. Imagine my excitement about this article, considering my time-travel novel just came out. Of course, I had to blog about it. Apparently, there is this rare condition called hyperthymesia, which is the literal persistence of memory. People with hyperthymesia have exceptional autobiographical memories. In other words, unlike the rest of us, those with this condition can remember past experiences in remarkable detail. Most people’s memories fade with age. Here’s what I learned about hyperthymesia:

Not much is known about the condition because there are only a handful of documented cases. Hyperthymesia is very different from photographic memory, which is more common. While a photographic memory isn’t super common, it certainly exists in far more individuals than hyperthymesia does. Even I had a touch of photographic memory in my youth, which allowed me to earn good grades in college with relatively little effort.
A recent case studied by a neurologist in France involved a teenage girl who could travel backward and forward through time. Yes, forward! At the young age of eight, the girl realized she could essentially time-warp to past events in literal seconds. She was able to visualize her personal memories in a stark white room with file cabinets. She would categorize them by type, with files specifically for documents and photographs. The room was also full of toys that never collected dust, each labeled with the name of the person who had gifted it to her. The young woman was also able to experience those events from either her own point of view or that of an outsider. The neurologist cited her ability to “foresee personal events in the future.”
Not much is known about the causes of hyperthymesia, but researchers have found increased connectivity in the middle of the brain, particularly the prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices. I could give you more information about those areas of the brain, but that’s boring compared to the other things cited in the article!
Let’s talk about the most fascinating discovery… the young woman’s ability to envision possible futures as if they were actually happening, which led the researcher to label it precognition. Time will tell (pun intended) whether those envisioned futures come to pass or if they were merely an example of an exceptional woman’s ability to dream up her future. Give that woman a pen, she’d make a great writer!

Now that I have read this article, I wonder about writing an entirely different novel about time travel. The real-life teenager would make a great model for a main character, especially if I make her a lesbian. If I choose to write this book, you’ll have to wait for it. So, in the meantime, if you want your fix on a time travel novel now, please consider clicking the link below because A Moment in Time is live now and ready for you to read. Help me reach the top 100! The audible version is coming soon. The narrator is finishing it up today, and then it has to be approved by Amazon.