Is man capable of total recall? What could be preventing this?

Question

Is man capable of total recall? What could be preventing this?

Answer 1

I think that we would go insane if we remembered every single bit of sensory input.  There's just too much of it for our very good but still limited brains to process.  We need to keep some brain cells available for learning and processing new information.

Answer 2

I was going to say No because our brian is not equipped to do this....

but what Olive said is better... So, Im just going to agree with that.  

Answer 3

Not really. How effectively you recall information depends on a lot of factors: attention, encoding, encoding specificity (the environment or context in which you encode something), retrieval practice, etc. With retrieval practice many people have been able to remember vast amounts of information but everything is impossible. One thing is that after repeated events, autobiographical memories (distinct memories from your life) become autobiographical facts (they blur into one another) because the context gets confused and you have misattribution and have trouble find the source of a memory.  

Answer 4

There are people that really have this ability.  Keep doing internet searches for it.  CNN had a story about a lady in California they were doing studies on.  She can tell you the weather and everything that she ate on a certain day.  

One guy was on Jepardy and is a radio talk show host in like wisconsin or something.  These people are real.  

Answer 5

I think not because of major biological inefficiencies with the human memory system.

Answer 6

Not sure what you mean by "total recall" if you mean retrieval of all the information that one encounters in their lifetime, the answer is no.

The bio-mechanics of the brain do not actually store all of this information in memory.

If you mean a process of generating inaccurate perceptions that result in completely false memories, then yes.

It is possible and there are even malpractice lawsuits against hypnotherapist claiming that this is precisely what patients fell victim to.