Scientists probe Italian key to memory

Scientists have latched onto his filmic mind, hoping it will reveal the secrets of the memory gene, and thereby get one step closer to managing memory-loss diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Yet for researchers, the really remarkable thing about this dark-haired man from a sleepy town in northern Italy is that his ability to access huge tomes of recorded information is also shared by his father and grandfather.

All three are pilots who leave inflight maps and manuals at home and remain slightly bemused by everyone else’s surprise at their talents. ‘‘Our family philosophy is not to consider ourselves a phenomenon,’’ said Gianni’s father, 45-year-old Andrea Golfera.

Researchers, however, are already flying high at the prospect of being able to study the brains of three generations with the rare gift of photographic memory. ‘‘I’m convinced there is a genetic component. By studying these more evolved memories we will be able to identify the genes involved in memory,’’ said neuro-scientist Antonio Malgaroli of Milan’s San Raffaele institute.

Golfera is excited by the research, hoping that perhaps it will allow him to be remembered long into the future. A deeper understanding of the genes that govern memory could open the door to understanding how we recall and forget, why we remember and where memories are stored.

‘‘Our goal is to map the changes that occur when the brain remembers, once we have identified the molecule involved, the mechanism at the level of proteins coded by DNA, we can search for it in the Golfera family,’’ Malgaroli said. The Golferas always took their recall ability for granted.

‘‘When you remember, it’s something 100 per cent natural, itis only when you realise that other people don’t do the same that you realise it is something special,’’ explained Andrea.

Golfera developed his own method which enhances the way the brain naturally processes information — linking sounds, colours, emotions and tastes to ideas, numbers and objects. To help him, he has memorised thousands of familiar places and it is in these virtual rooms that he stores memories.

‘‘Memory is a problem of order, not space. You have to know where to look for what you have remembered.’’ Malgaroli agrees: ‘‘The memory system is an infinite container. What you remember is not stored in a very precise way, it is continually being re-organised.’’ ‘‘I’d like to be able to manage my memories and control my dreams,’’ he said. ‘‘I think of the mind as a parallel universe and mine just keeps on expanding, I doubt I’ll ever fill it.’’

(Reuters)