captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> simon: it was the first time an arab dictator had been toppled by his own people. and the most amazing thing is that the fires, sweeping through the middle east today, were ignited by a simple food vendor in a forgotten town in tunisia. mohammed bouazizi got so tired of being robbed and humiliated by a corrupt regime that he stood in the middle of the street, doused himself with gasoline and lit a match. and that's how the revolution began. >> october 19, 1987. >> that was a monday. that was the day the big stock

market crashed and the cellist jacqueline du preé died that day. >> the berlin wall falls on what day? >> november 9, 1989, which was a thursday. >> christopher reeve's accident occurred on what day? >> it was saturday, may 27, 1995. >> stahl: she has what's called superior autobiographical memory. >> i'm so excited to meet you guys. >> stahl: all of them have it, too. it's a rare and remarkable power to remember virtually every day of their lives. >> a 7.1 earthquake hit the san francisco/oakland area... >> october 17. >> 1989. >> thursday. >> i remember watching the game of the world series. >> stahl: the scientists studying them say it could help all of us some day. >> it could be-- could be-- very important. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and andy rooney

tonight on "60 minutes." ♪

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yeah. ♪ >> simon: the wave of revolutions sweeping the arab world started in a forgotten town in the flatlands of tunisia. it was an unlikely place for history to be made. but so was tunisia itself-- the smallest country in north africa, strategically irrelevant, with no oil and not much of an army. it has been an oasis of tranquility in this tumultuous part of the world, famous for

its beaches, its couscous, and its wonderful weather. but there was a dark side to paradise. for 23 years, tunisia was ruled by a corrupt and ruthless dictator named zine ben ali, who filled his prisons with anyone who spoke out against him. as we first told you earlier this year, ben ali is gone now. in january, he left the country, quickly. in one of the most astonishing episodes of our time, he was overthrown by a popular uprising sparked by the desperate act of one simple man. if the middle east is being transformed before our eyes today, it all began when a poor fruit vendor decided he just wasn't going to take it anymore. sidi bouzid, a town of 40,000, doesn't get so much as a mention in the tunisian guidebooks. tourists don't come here. on friday morning, december 17, 26-year-old mohammed bouazizi

was selling fruit from a cart, as he did every day to support his family. he didn't have a license, but very few of these vendors did. a municipal official, a woman, came by and confiscated his scale right here. it was worth a hundred bucks, and mohammed bouazizi knew he'd have to pay a bribe to get it back. this had happened to him many times before. but this time, he got mad. he complained and the woman slapped him. one slap in the face, and that's how the revolution began. he ran, screaming, to the government office in the center of town. he wanted his scale back, that's all. but they wouldn't let him in. he went to a gas station, filled up a canister, and went back to the government building. his friend jamil, another fruit vendor, went with him. jamil says bouazizi stood in the middle of traffic, poured gas over himself and cried out, "how do you expect me to make a living?"

then, he lit a match. he barely survived. bouazizi's mother says her son wasn't political in any way. he just wanted to continue making his $10 a day and send his sisters away to college. but that slap was one indignity too many. it was illegal to demonstrate in tunisia, but hundreds came from all over town to protest. nothing like that had ever happened before in sidi bouzid. >> zied mhirsi: the symbol, by just burning himself, using his body as a... a way to express that anger and need for dignity, touched a lot of tunisians. >> simon: zied mhirsi is a doctor and radio show host who was active in the uprising. he worked with us on our story. do you think this revolution would have happened now if it hadn't been for bouazizi? >> mhirsi: i don't think so.

>> simon: the anger spread to other towns in the interior of the country, where unemployment among university graduates was approaching 50%. the dictator, ben ali, did the only thing he knew how to do-- he turned to his police. >> mhirsi: the turning point, the real one here, was the real bullets. tunisia is one of the most peaceful countries you can ever think of. tunisia, people don't have guns; even robbers don't have guns. and then, here we have the ruler, the government, asking its police to shoot its own people using snipers. shooting people with real bullets in their heads. >> simon: hundreds of protesters were killed, but you wouldn't have heard anything about it on the state-run media. 20% of tunisians, however, are on facebook, and facebook had pictures. how did facebook actually work in spreading the unrest? >> mhirsi: facebook was the only

video-sharing platform that was available to tunisians, and seeing videos of people shot with real bullets in their heads on facebook was shocking to many tunisians. >> simon: tunisia had been a battleground before, but that was a long time ago. look who's been here: hannibal, carthaginians, romans- - warriors all, and all leaving their mark. at the kasserine pass, the u.s. army fought its first major battle with the germans in the second world war and left nearly 3,000 soldiers behind in a cemetery few americans even know about. until last winter, ben ali's tunisia was calm. that's because the police state he created worked, as political activist sihem ben sedrine discovered when she spoke out against ben ali and was arrested. >> sihem ben sedrine: they put me face to... >> simon: the ground? >> sedrine: ...the ground, and it's a very big man. and he... he started jumping on

my neck, on... on my head, on my everywhere. and he was jumping on me, and i was... >> simon: did he want you to say something? >> sedrine: no, no, no, nothing. it's just a punishment. you do not have the right to say no to ben ali. >> simon: after her release, the police took to dumping sewage at her front door and sabotaging her car. >> sedrine: they cut the... the front brakes. >> simon: the brakes, yeah. >> sedrine: ...brakes. twice, i had accident because the brakes were cut. >> simon: the repression was complimented by corruption. that was the specialty of ben ali's second wife, who was 20 years his junior, and brought her extended family into the presidential palace, turning the seat of government into a mafia command post. mustapha kamel nabli was once a minister in ben ali's cabinet, then went into exile. he's back now as the governor of tunisia's central bank.

how much money do you think the ben ali family took for themselves over the years? >> mustapha kamel nabli: it's significant. i think it's in the billions of dollars. >> simon: the ben alis blanketed the country with luxury villas. they kicked people out of any other homes they liked. investors, businessmen couldn't do anything without giving the family a piece of the action. you haven't used the word "bribe." >> nabli: oh, it's worse than a bribe. i mean, it's blunt corruption. >> simon: the 74-year-old ben ali saw himself as president for life, and he didn't want people to recognize that he wasn't getting any younger. he dyed his hair. mubarak had dyed hair, pure black. what is it about these dictators in the middle east and their dyed hair? >> mhirsi: those dictators try to look the way they looked when they took power so they make people forget the amount of time they spent ruling them.

>> simon: ben ali was taken aback by the outbreak of unrest. he tried to calm people down with a p.r. campaign that was nothing short of grotesque. he went to a tunis hospital with his entourage and paid a bedside visit to the fruit vendor, mohammed bouazizi, who was barely alive. >> mhirsi: that picture was shocking. you could see nothing of bouazizi. he was surrounded by band-aids like a mummy. obviously, he was in a coma. and then, you have all these politicians coming inside the room. >> simon: bouazizi died january 4. word went out on facebook to take to the streets. the message was received. on january 14, tens of thousands brought the nation's capital, tunis, to a halt. now, the world started paying attention. >> degage! >> simon: "degage"-- "get out," they shouted at ben ali.

zied mhirsi was there. >> mhirsi: oh, it was fantastic to be there on that day. there was everybody-- young, poor, rich, educated, women, men. every part of the tunisian society was represented in that demonstration that asked ben ali to get out. >> simon: the protesters thought it was entirely possible that ben ali would order the army to fire on them. but they didn't budge. to their astonishment, it was ben ali who panicked. he fled the country, went to saudi arabia. >> mhirsi: i think, like the majority of the tunisian people, we were in disbelief. we were, like, "he's gone." it was just crazy. he left in his plane and he's gone. took us some time to realize it, i think. so, yeah, we were free then.

>> simon: it was the first time an arab dictator had been toppled by his own people. it didn't take long before the homes belonging to his extended family were torched and looted. today, they're tourist attractions. but not for foreigners-- for themselves. a testament to what they've accomplished. there used to be pictures of ben ali everywhere. they're gone now. well, almost. there's graffiti all over tunis, thanking facebook for the revolution. but more than anything else, it was the revolt of the young. and it's your generation that went and threw out this dictator. >> mhirsi: definitely. >> simon: correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm getting the impression that you're enjoying this. >> mhirsi: so much. so much. >> simon: today, tunisia's small army is keeping the peace. elections are due to be held in the fall. meanwhile, there's something called an interim government.

and the new secretary of state for youth and sport is 33-year- old slim amamou. he was one of the protesters. now, he's really learning about democracy. >> slim amamou: i have, every day, demonstrations in front of my office, and sometimes even in my office. >> simon: you were one of the protesters. and now, the protesters are protesting against you. >> amamou: yeah, that's right. >> simon: bourguiba avenue, tunis's champs elysees, once the place to see and be seen, has become the place to speak and be heard. everybody wants something: the unemployed want jobs, students want everyone from the old government sent packing, the tourist industry wants to see people back on those beaches, and the west wants tunisians to behave themselves. you know that a lot of big countries in the world are worried that it's going to get chaotic here. what do you say? >> mhirsi: oh, no, no, no, no.

definitely not. this country now is just on the verge of becoming a developed one, of joining the northern part of the frontier, the mediterranean frontier. and i... i can tell... we're going to become like portugal in a couple of years. >> simon: and your wine will be as good as portuguese wine? >> mhirsi: we've been making wine for 3,000 years, so our wine is already better, i would say. >> simon: and tunisians say they're proud to have been the pioneers of revolution in the region. this is how they reacted when they heard mubarak was gone. every other autocratic leader in the middle east is quivering, and it's all because of a fruit vendor in a small town in central tunisia. >> mhirsi: it's like the little push you put on, like, a card game, and then the whole castle just falls apart. that little energy was from bouazizi. >> simon: last february, more

than a thousand people from the capital made a pilgrimage to sidi bouzid, the fruit vendor's home. "the caravan of thanks," they called it. they wanted to pay tribute to the man and the unlikely town where it all began. people said they were experiencing the deepest joy of their lives. there's nothing like a revolution. but the mother of the revolution didn't come to the parade. she stayed at home, grieving for her son-- her only mementos, two posters on a white wall. way out in tunisia's hard scrabble countryside, there's a cemetery. a tunisian flag and a gray cement block mark mohammed bouazizi's resting place. it's precarious to make predictions in this part of the world, but here's one. before long, there will be monuments honoring him all over the country.

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>> stahl: it is often said that we are our memories, that web of experiences, relationships, thoughts and feelings that make us who we are. we don't remember it all, of course. that would be impossible-- or would it? there's been a discovery in the field of memory recently-- so new, it's just beginning to appear in textbooks; so hard to fathom, there are some who remain unconvinced.

for the moment, the scientists studying it are simply calling it "superior autobiographical memory," and as we first reported in december, unless you happen to know one of the handful of people discovered so far who have it, get ready to be amazed. ♪ ♪ louise owen is 37 years old and a professional violinist living in new york city. but she has another gift, too, one that is far more rare. let me give you a date. let's say january 2, 1990. >> louise owen: right now, i'm remembering the jogging class that i started that morning. >> stahl: and you're actually back there? >> owen: i... i can feel it. i can remember the coach saying, "keep going." ( laughs ) >> stahl: that was more than 20 years ago, when she was 16, a date i picked completely at random, as i did this one: february 18, 1988. >> owen: 1988. oh... ( laughs ) >> stahl: you're laughing. >> owen: i'm laughing. it was a thursday. i had a big conversation with a

friend of mine, and that's all i'm going to say. ( laughs ) >> stahl: louise says she can remember every day of her life since the age of 11. try to talk us through-- can you do that? >> owen: sure. >> stahl: --how it works. out of the air: april 21, 1991. >> owen: 1991, okay. april 21. so, in the moment between "april 21" and "1991," i have scrolled through 25 april 21s, thinking, "which one is it going to be? which one is it going to be?" okay, 1991, which was a sunday. and i was in los angeles, and i had a concert with the american youth symphony. >> stahl: you went to the most important thing that happened that day. >> owen: right. that was the most... i mean, you probably don't want to hear about, you know, sort of the daily "oh, i got up in the morning and i got dressed and..." ( laughs ) >> stahl: you... and you remember that? >> owen: yeah. >> stahl: you remember what you were having for lunch? >> owen: not what i had for lunch that day, but i do remember what i had for dinner the night before, so... ( laughter ) >> stahl: and effortless? it just pops in. >> owen: right. i mean, for me, it's almost as automatic as if you say, "what is your name and where do you live?" >> stahl: but how do we know that what she says she remembers really happened? enter james mcgaugh, a professor

of neurobiology at the university of california, irvine, and a renowned expert on memory. dr. mcgaugh is the first to discover and study superior autobiographical memory, and he is quizzing louise, his fifth subject, to find out. an eye condition requires him to wear a clouded lens. >> dr. james mcgaugh: let's move back in time now to 1990. it rained on several days in january and february. can you name the dates on which it rained? >> owen: ( laughs ) >> stahl: believe it or not, she could. >> owen: let's see, it was slightly rainy and cloudy on january 14, 15. it was very hot the weekend of the 27th, 28th-- no rain. >> stahl: we checked the official weather records... >> owen: it rained very hard on sunday, february 4. >> stahl: ...and she was right. mcgaugh says this type of memory is completely new to science, so he and his colleagues have had

to devise their own tests, like this one on public events. >> october 19, 1987. >> owen: it was a monday. that was the day of the big stock market crash, and the cellist jacqueline du pré died that day. >> the berlin wall falls on what day? >> owen: november 9, 1989, which was a thursday. >> christopher reeve's accident occurred on what day? >> owen: it was saturday, may 27, 1995. >> and when were the oscars held in 1999? >> owen: in 1999? sunday, march 21. >> yes. perfect. >> owen: i went to a fabulous oscar party that day. >> mcgaugh: these people remember things that you and i couldn't possibly remember. >> stahl: and they're not memorizing. there's no trick. >> mcgaugh: they can do with their memories what you and i can do about yesterday. >> stahl: and they can do it every day. >> mcgaugh: and they can do it every day. and when i ask, "what goes on in... what goes on in your brain, what goes on in your mind?," they give the very unsatisfying response, "i just see it, it's just there." >> stahl: the first person ever

identified with this ability is jill price, who says she feels haunted by the never-ending stream of memories and hasn't wanted to meet any of the others. next was brad williams, a radio news anchor and reporter from lacrosse, wisconsin, who isn't bothered by his memory. he says it comes in handy at work and playing trivia games. >> brad williams: i would get 6,000-7,000 points, everybody else would get 1,000 points. >> stahl: third was rick baron, from cleveland. do you remember every movie you've ever seen? >> rick baron: sure. >> stahl: and you remember when lots of television shows started? >> baron: anything-- movies... >> stahl: "60 minutes?" >> baron: tuesday, september 24, '68. the first sunday show was september 19, '71. >> august 1, 1974? >> bob petrella: thursday. >> why do you know that? >> petrella: that's my most memorable august 1. ( laughs ) >> why? >> stahl: and bob petrella... >> petrella: i moved to l.a. that year. >> stahl: ...a tv producer and

writer who serves as the collective memory, and sometimes the evening entertainment, for his friends. >> petrella: 1996, april 27th, which was a saturday. >> it was a tuesday. >> petrella: no, april 27, '96. >> don't argue, he's right. >> oh, i'm in '93. >> petrella: see? >> it was a saturday, you're right. >> he's not wrong. >> i have an almanac, and i'm wrong. >> he's not wrong. >> stahl: i must confess that when i first heard about this research, what surprised me was not that this condition existed but that it was considered so rare. that's because it sounded like a description of a friend of mine, the actress marilu henner, a star of the hit tv show "taxi." she lives with her husband and two sons from a prior marriage in los angeles. >> hey, mom? >> marilu henner: what? >> what day was valentine's day in '79? >> henner: ( sighs ) in 1979? it was a wednesday. >> and you're right. how do you... >> henner: ( laughter ) you know, you've lived with me

your entire life. >> yeah, but you've never explained how you do that. >> henner: i don't do it, i just see it. >> stahl: you and i have known each other... >> henner: 25 years. i can rattle off almost every single time i've seen you. do you remember when we went to aureole, the restaurant? >> henner: that was '93. >> stahl: oh, my gosh. >> henner: that was june 1, a tuesday. >> stahl: and what did we eat? >> henner: i had the salmon. >> stahl: she even remembers what day she got many of the shoes in her large and well- organized closet. >> henner: like these shoes, i wore them october... the first time i wore them, october 18, 2007. these i wore on april the 21st of this year, so that was a tuesday. oh, these shoes i got a long time ago... >> stahl: it sure seemed like superior autobiographical memory to me. >> henner: ...1982. i got them in april the ninth, so that was a friday of 1982. >> stahl: we put marilu in touch with dr. mcgaugh... >> henner: it's so nice to meet you. >> mcgaugh: i'm jim. >> stahl: ...to have her memory officially put to the test. there was a session in his office... >> mcgaugh: do you know when john lennon was killed? >> henner: yes, that was

december 8, 1980, and that was a monday. >> stahl: ...a round of standard memory tests... >> go ahead and put them in the order they were presented to you. >> stahl: ...the public events quiz. >> delta airline flight 191 crashes near dallas, texas. >> henner: oh, i know exactly when that happened because all of a sudden i was at my... it was august the second of 1985. it was a friday. >> stahl: after seven hours of grilling... >> mcgaugh: october 1, 8, 15, 22. >> stahl: ...mcgaugh and his collaborator, neuroscientist larry cahill, officially anointed marilu henner superior autobiographical memory subject number six. >> larry cahill: extremely impressive. >> stahl: you really do remember your whole life. >> henner: it's like putting in a dvd and it cues up to a certain place. i'm there again. so, i'm looking out from my eyes and seeing things visually as i would have that day. >> stahl: do you remember all your old boyfriend's birthdays? i'll bet you do. >> henner: oh, yeah. not only that, the date of the first time, you know... it's like... ( laughs )

>> stahl: in order. we searched for footage of long- ago events in marilu's life to try and stump her. october 26, 1976. >> henner: okay, october 26. >> stahl: 1976. >> henner: 1976 was a tuesday. oh, i went to shoot a ring around the collar commercial in venice, italy. and you saw a second-and-a-half mood shot of venice, and then a gondolier singing, "♪ of love i sing tra-la-la-la ♪ for you got ring around the coll-la-la..." and i went, "my powder didn't work." >> ♪ of love i sing, la-la-la >> stahl: more than 30 years later... >> ♪ ring around the coll-la-la ♪ >> henner: my powder didn't work. >> stahl: ...dead on. >> henner: boy, you guys really have drawn up the dregs. >> stahl: what do you see as the potential, in terms of science? >> mcgaugh: it could be a new chapter. we think we knew a lot, and all of a sudden these people come and display a kind of memory we've never seen before.

and we have to say, "whoo, what is that about?" and so we're going to take a look and see if we can figure that out. and it could be... could be very important. >> stahl: one thing dr. mcgaugh had not yet done is bring these memory wizards together, so we did, and he kicked off a questioning session unlike any other. >> mcgaugh: a 7.1 earthquake hit the san francisco/oakland area on? >> all: october 17th, 1989. >> petrella: tuesday. >> henner: i remember we were watching the game of the world series. >> all: that was the world series. >> henner: oh, my gosh. >> stahl: are you guys feeling a little competitive with each other? ( laughter ) >> williams: no. >> petrella: well, i want to make sure that i'm not the dunce here. i got to keep up. >> stahl: when they tell you they know, are they always correct? >> cahill: i would say over 99% of the time, if not 100% of the time, if they tell you something and you can check it, they're right. i've almost given up looking now because, okay, they're right. >> henner: people go, "okay, what's the trick?" >> petrella: yeah, exactly. >> stahl: "what's the trick?" >> henner: that's what you get a lot. >> stahl: they seemed to relish

the chance, finally, to compare notes. >> petrella: do you guys ever get ticked at someone... it's something you consider monumental, and for them it's monumental, and then you bring it up and they go, "well, i don't remember that"? it's like, "how can you forget that?" >> owen: all the time. >> henner: you know what i love? i love when people get so flattered. like, they go, "wow, i must've really made an impression on you." ( laughter ) and i go, "no, no, believe me, i remember everything." >> stahl: does it ever freak anybody out? >> petrella: people misunderstand it a lot of times. they think it's photographic, they think it's autistic... >> stahl: yeah. >> petrella: ...call you "rain man." >> henner: ( laughter ) right. >> petrella: and i'll just go along with that. "yeah, yeah, definitely friday." ( laughter ) you know, stuff like that. >> stahl: it was a question we had: are they autistic? are they anything like savants? >> cahill: i guess the answer is yes and no. they're not people who have an extraordinary ability but can't tie their shoe. and that's part of what i think makes this at least so interesting for me is that you have this really remarkable ability in a person who other... is otherwise pretty darn normal. >> stahl: but what exactly does "normal" mean when you remember every day of your life?

when everything good and everything bad that's ever happened to you is right there, instantly accessible? when you look back at painful memories, is it just as raw? >> owen: sometimes it'll be as though it happened yesterday. sometimes it's as though it happened last week. >> stahl: just the mention of a sad day, like the one in 1986 when louise learned she'd have to change schools, and she relives it emotionally. >> owen: i felt like my whole world was collapsing. and you say that, and it's like all of a sudden i feel like this really heartbroken little 13- year-old all over again. >> stahl: you feel it? >> owen: i do feel it. >> stahl: vivid? >> owen: yeah. >> stahl: awful? >> owen: yeah. >> stahl: is your heart... >> owen: i mean, my... my heart is actually pounding right now in telling you this. >> stahl: she says her memory is a gift, but there are definitely downsides. >> owen: sometimes having this sort of extreme memory can be a very isolating sort of thing. there are times when i feel like i'm fluent in a language that nobody else speaks, or that i'm walking around and everybody

else has amnesia. >> stahl: are there still skeptics in your field who know what you're up to and just... >> mcgaugh: yes, science is based on skepticism. and so, yes, there are skeptics. i suppose if i had not met these people and tested them, i would be a skeptic. my answer to that is, "come on over for a day. i'll let you meet a few of them." and i'd like to see how many of them walk away and say, "well, it's not a big deal." no, it is a big deal, and we need to figure out what it's all about. come on in. >> stahl: and that work is already under way. dr. mcgaugh is doing mri scans of all the subjects, searching for clues that might be hidden in the structure of their brains. preliminary results from the mris came in, and the findings were tantalizing and unexpected. we'll tell you about that, and what this kind of memory has meant for their relationships, when we come back.

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it's the at&t network. helping you do what you do... even better. >> stahl: beyond the fun of asking what happened on august 16, 1983, and knowing you'll actually get an answer, there is a lot at stake here. the discovery of people with instant access to virtually every day of their lives could recast our whole understanding of how human memory works and what's possible, and that has implications for all of us. is it possible we all have memories of every day tucked away in our brains but we just can't retrieve them? could understanding these remarkable people someday help with alzheimer's and other memory disorders? scientists tell us the potential is enormous, but the inquiry is just beginning.

the first step: look at and try to figure out what might be going on inside their brains. we watched as the first mri images of louise owen's brain appeared on the screen. the hope is that somewhere in these pictures and measurements will lie the first clue that might explain what makes her memory so extraordinary. >> owen: find anything good? ( laughs ) >> we'll find out. >> stahl: what did you think you were going to find? and then what did you find? >> cahill: well, if you want the honest truth, the honest trust is that i thought, "i bet we'll find nothing." >> stahl: oh. >> cahill: right. i mean, it's kind of like figuring that, you know, if you open einstein's brain, there's going to be some huge lobe that says "genius." you know, you... you don't find stuff like that. >> stahl: but dr. cahill was wrong-- no flashing "genius" lobes, but they did find parts of the brain that were significantly larger in people with superior autobiographical memory than in control subjects of matched age and gender. >> cahill: this would be a person looking this way.

>> stahl: he brought along a model of a brain to show us. >> cahill: there's two areas that are jumping out at us. the first is this area over here called the temporal lobe, and this area is quite a bit bigger. now, that's intriguing because this is the... the chunk of brain neurobiologists think has to do with storing new memories. >> stahl: so not a surprise? >> cahill: not a surprise there. >> stahl: more interesting, he says, is a second region deep inside the brain called the caudate nucleus which scientists believe is involved in what's called habit or skill learning, and also in obsessive- compulsive disorder. now, they need to figure out why. >> mcgaugh: we have the chicken/egg problem. do they have these larger brain regions because they have exercised it a lot, or do they have good memories because... >> stahl: because these are larger? >> mcgaugh: ...because these are larger. >> stahl: and what about the fact that the caudate nucleus is thought to be involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder? the scientists think there may just be a hint there, and "exhibit a" is marilu henner's closet.

>> henner: i love organization. i like my shoes a certain way-- right foot going this way, left foot going that way-- so you can always see the toe and the heel on every pair. and you'll see that things are very color coordinated here, but in sections. and i always hang like with like, and i have the exact same hangers because then everything slides more easily. >> cahill: all of them have what we think of as o.c.d.-like behaviors. they love to collect things. they have to have things in just the right order. >> mcgaugh: what about phobias? >> williams: does hypochondria count? it's like, "oh, i hope i don't get this. i hope i don't get that disease." >> stahl: you have a little germ... germ thing? >> williams: i... i wash hands frequently and... >> petrella: so do i. in fact, i dropped my keys when i was in a hurry driving down here, and i went... all right, so i went back in and i, like, ran... i washed them off. i ran and wash... >> stahl: washed them off? >> petrella: yeah. i do that all the time, if i drop them. >> stahl: can you conclude there's a connection, or... or is it still way too early? >> cahill: because it's showing up in one fashion or another in all of them, i'd say it's our biggest clue. >> stahl: and when you think about it, they even seem to look

for ways to organize their memories. >> baron: the thing that is most pleasurable is categorizing any event. anytime i went bowling in my life, any wedding... >> stahl: that you lived? >> baron: starting as a six- year-old. >> petrella: sometimes what i do is i'll go back july 14 as far back as i can remember. i'll just go "july 14th, '67, that happened." and then, maybe i won't remember '68, but i'll remember '69 and '70. >> henner: or you'll remember around '68. >> stahl: but do you all do that? >> petrella: yeah. >> henner: yeah. >> all: yeah. >> stahl: louise even compares dates. >> owen: i'll scroll all the way back to 1985. i'll be like, well, which were better, march thirds or march fourths a year ago? two years ago? three years ago? and go all the way back. it's sort of like mental gymnastics. >> stahl: there is a certain irony to the fact that it is dr. mcgaugh who is studying this phenomenon, because he is known in the field of memory for discoveries these people seem to defy. his work with rats, like this one that doesn't know there is a platform hidden below the

surface of this water tank, proved the role of adrenaline in making strong memories. the rat swims around the edge, then eventually ventures out and, by chance, bumps into the platform. the next day, he'll find it just a little bit faster. but watch this rat that learned where the platform was yesterday, then received a shot of adrenaline immediately afterward. >> mcgaugh: notice that it starts out not on the edge. >> stahl: oh. >> mcgaugh: there you go. >> stahl: oh, that's impressive. adrenaline actually made this rat's brain remember better, and mcgaugh says the same thing happens in people. when we experience something emotional, positive or negative, our bodies release adrenaline, searing those memories into our brains more strongly. what can you and i do, right now, to make sure we remember this conversation? >> mcgaugh: well... >> stahl: i could kick you. >> mcgaugh: yeah... ( laughter ) or i could embarrass you. most of my research is with laboratory rats, and suppose i said, all of a sudden, "oh, and

i'm going to demonstrate to you." and i drop about six rats right at your feet. >> stahl: i'd remember. believe me, i'd remember. >> mcgaugh: you'd remember, right? "excuse me, don't... don't sit on her lap. excuse me, you're not supposed to be there." i think you'd remember that. >> stahl: now, the people that you're... we're meeting now. >> mcgaugh: yes. >> stahl: they wouldn't need those rats. and that's what's so baffling. these people do remember the ordinary, non-emotional events the rest of us routinely forget. lots of sports fans can remember highlights from particularly exciting games. bob petrella, a pittsburgh steelers fan, remembers every game. when was the last time the redskins beat the steelers? >> petrella: hmm, let's see. they played them in 2004, and the steelers won. they played them in 2000... >> stahl: we sat there as he scanned back through 19 seasons in 19 seconds. >> petrella: oh, in '91. ( laughter ) they played in '91. november 17, 1991.

>> henner: this is fun. ( laughter ) this is... >> stahl: that is stunning. ( applause ) >> henner: bravo. >> petrella: yeah. >> stahl: we tried even further back. what were the last two games in october of 1979? >> petrella: let's see. the 22nd, they played denver on monday night, and i think they won 42 to seven. >> stahl: yup. >> petrella: they played... oh, then, they played dallas on october 28, sunday. it was on cbs, so you could get that game. >> pittsburgh, pennsylvania. >> stahl: we did. we got that game, and 31 years later, he was able to describe plays. >> petrella: staubach was scrambling, and l.c. greenwood just slammed right into him. it was in the fourth quarter. >> announcer: staubach really took a shot. he was hit by greenwood. >> stahl: he even remembered specific images from the broadcast. >> petrella: i remember staubach just sitting on the bench. >> announcer: here's roger now being worked on over there. >> petrella: you could just tell he was out of it. >> announcer: he probably has a concussion. >> stahl: how about november 11, 1990?

>> petrella: they didn't play. that was a bye. >> stahl: ( laughter ) you're good. that was a trick question. ( laughter ) >> petrella: no, i re... i remember that day because... >> stahl: that is good. >> petrella: ...i was... i was depressed. i had broken up with this woman. and i was going out to... to rent a couple videos. and i was thinking about her. >> cahill: there's a quote that i love. it's by the great psychologist william james. he said, "if we remembered everything, we should, on most occasions, be as ill off as if we remembered nothing." >> stahl: and that's what the field of memory has always considered a given-- that a healthy dose of forgetting is crucial to our ability to think. you abstract and generalize, in part, because you forget. when you have a trip to work and you have the same trip every day, you abstract and you generalize a typical trip to work because you don't remember every single detail of every single trip. so a little forgetting is needed to help you abstract and generalize. >> stahl: well, that's what i always thought, until i met your five subjects today.

do you ever get the feeling that all these memories are cluttering up your mind, that "it's just too much up there and i need to sweep this away?" >> henner: it's organized, you know what i mean? it's organized, so it's called on when you need it, but it's not like they're like, "oh, they're coming in all the time and..." ( laughter ) >> all: yeah. >> stahl: it's not... >> petrella: it's not overwhelming. >> mcgaugh: surprising thing is that these people don't appear to have cluttered brains. they can pull out the right information at the right time, and that's the puzzle. >> stahl: it's the real puzzle. >> mcgaugh: that's the puzzle. >> stahl: it kind of takes everything we've all assumed, scientists and ordinary people, and said, "come on, guys, rethink it." >> mcgaugh: yeah, got to do some rethinking, but that's... that's fun. that's... that's part of the fun part of science. >> this is where the saliva goes... >> stahl: and they're pursuing every avenue they can-- d.n.a. testing, to see if there are differences in their genetic makeup; handedness testing, since all three men are lefties, to see if that yields any clues... >> henner: which way would you do a cartwheel? ( laughter ) >> how often do we do catrwheels?

>> stahl: the inquiry is just getting started, with six willing subjects eager to see where it all will lead. and who knows how many more, still out there. >> henner: i've always loved having this memory. i feel, as an actress and as a writer, it's been indispensable; as a mother, as a wife, certainly. ( laughs ) >> stahl: why do you say that? >> henner: oh, my gosh. no, because you can never lose an argument. "no, you didn't say that, i said this," you know, "you said this." >> stahl: yeah, but maybe he doesn't like it so much. >> henner: no, i know. yeah, well, that's probably why i'm on my third. >> stahl: which raises a real question, since marilu is the only one of the six subjects who is married or has children. you would think that, in romance... >> owen: it can be tricky. >> stahl: it can be tricky. >> owen: i think so. >> stahl: breakups must be... >> owen: horrible. >> stahl: horrible. because you cannot not remember. >> owen: right. >> stahl: i find it intriguing that four out of five of you are not married and, as far as i'm aware, are not in a relationship. do you all think there's a problem having this memory and

having a good relationship? >> williams: i like to think it's coincidence. >> stahl: "you're going to remember everything? you're going to win every..." >> owen: right, well... >> stahl: ...argument?" ( laughter ) >> owen: although, i think it's... you know, it's what you do with it. i mean, i try not to be defined by this. >> stahl: and she says, for the most part, she succeeds. overall, is it a good thing? are you glad you have this? >> owen: i am. >> stahl: you are? >> owen: i am. i mean, sure, there are times when it's difficult. but i feel like it makes me live my life with so much more intention and so much more joy. >> stahl: what do you mean, more intention? >> owen: because i know that i'm going to remember whatever happens today, it's like, "all right, what can i do to make today significant? what can i do that is going to make today stand out?" >> cahill: as you watch these remarkable people, and as you think back on, say, my three children, how little i can actually remember from when they were four, five, six. you start to wonder, why are we the default state? why are we normal and they're the unusual ones?

why didn't we evolve such that most of us are like them and we're the unusual ones, the people who can hardly remember anything? it just makes you wonder. ♪ ♪ >> stahl: after our story first aired, dr. mcgaugh and cahill's phones started ringing. they now have 20 confirmed subjects with superior autobiographical memory, and still more to test. marilu henner has written a book about memory that will be published in the coming months, and she's been working as a consultant on a new crime drama for the fall on cbs about a detective who remembers every day of her life. >> go to 60minutesovertime.com to watch the next in our summer series of correspondent favorites. sponsored by pfizer. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms.

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>> pelley: now andy rooney. >> rooney: there's a lot in the newspaper every day, but anything funny would fit on the head of a pin. i often use that phrase, but i've never tried to fit anything on the head of a pin. i guess i say that more often than i use pins. when i was a kid i used to read "gasoline alley," "li'l abner," "buck rogers," "blondie".

they were called "the funny papers," even though they were never very funny. "the funny papers" are a thing of the past in some newspapers, of course, although i must say there are days when my newspaper could use one on page one. they call them "comic strips," now. "comic" is a pretentious name for funny. the fact is, people who can write really funny funny papers are scarce. it's hard for them, too, because, generally speaking, editors don't take to humor. humor is inimical to an editor's nature. i think that if someone came up with a good comic strip that had a story line and humor, it would sell newspapers. the sad fact is, there's no agreement on what's funny and what isn't. i'm funny sometimes, but i'm the only one who thinks so. >> pelley: i'm scott pelley. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes" and i'll see you tomorrow on the "cbs evening news." captioning funded by cbs, and ford-- built for the road ahead.

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