Imagine having the ability to recall precise details from nearly every day of your life.

The intricate memories of what you saw, heard, smelt and most importantly how you felt. The wonderful moments and the terrible ones.

Even with all the memory tricks in the world, for most of us, this is an impossible dream.

Yet some people, like 28-year-old Rebecca Sharrock, have an extraordinary memory.

Ms Sharrock has been diagnosed with highly superior autobiographical memory (H-SAM).

Around 60 people worldwide have been identified as having H-SAM and most of them can describe with great accuracy what they were doing on almost any given date, providing details including what they were wearing, what was around them and their emotions at the time.

In other words, they have a super memory.

Naturally, neuroscientists are curious to know just how this is possible and very importantly, what implications there may be for the rest of us, in terms of improving our memory.

Researchers like Associate Professor Gail Robinson, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Queensland, have been working with Ms Sharrock to try to understand how her brain manages to encode such detailed memories.

When painful memories never fade

Ms Sharrock can describe baby scenes from as early as 12 days old — and her astonishing memory abilities have been both a blessing and curse.

For many people, the memory of a difficult day or painful encounter fades with time, but for those with H-SAM, it can remain as fresh as ever.

Rebecca Sharrock has highly superior autobiographical memory, or H-SAM. ( ABC: Catalyst staff )

For years, Ms Sharrock struggled with depression, anxiety and insomnia, while wrestling a flood of negative memories.

Ms Sharrock describes the unique solution she developed as a nine-year-old.

"I found that I'd go to sleep if I've read Harry Potter to myself, but I had to have my eyes open to read the books," she said.

"I thought to myself, 'I've got to find a way of reading Harry Potter to myself with my eyes closed'. So it came to me, 'Why don't I just memorise them?'"

And so, she did. Every line and every chapter of the entire, seven-book Harry Potter series.

Even now, if you read a line from the beginning of any chapter, Ms Sharrock can, from memory, recite it.

But she concedes her memory is not perfect, nor is it photographic.

Just like the rest of us, she can fail to put a name to a face, and testing with simple memory tests often fails to capture the true extent of her extraordinary abilities.

Ms Sharrock also has a complex personal history, and she also lives with autism and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

It seems most people with H-SAM have OCD, a mental health condition where people can check things repeatedly or perform certain routines in a compulsive way.

Certainly, when Ms Sharrock focuses on a task like learning a book, she gives it her full attention. There's no multitasking, watching screens or doing other distracting activities.

She often paces and squeezes a squeegee ball at the same time.

Yet while OCD is a relatively common disorder, affecting millions around the world, only a tiny number of people have the ability to retain great chunks of autobiographical memory.

So, it certainly is not the central key to understanding how H-SAM works.

Using stories to remember

I met Ms Sharrock to get a sense of what her life is like.

She lives in Brisbane in an incredible, magical house full of Harry Potter Lego, with hand-painted mystery panels on the walls, a Harry Potter collection of 60 wands and a menagerie of pets.

Rebecca Sharrock loves Lego and Harry Potter. ( ABC: Catalyst staff )

Ms Sharrock is a talented artist and hopes to continue her development as a motivational public speaker.

With the help of a psychological team and a supportive family, she has made great progress in acquiring skills that are helping her to navigate day-to-day life with increasing confidence.

She regularly attends sessions with Associate Professor Robinson at the University of Queensland to track her progress and participate in research.

Sorry, this audio has expired A highly superior memory

Ms Sharrock's love of narrative is one ability she uses to help herself remember.

Working with Professor Robinson, she has shown a superior ability to recall details of pictures, for example, by attaching a detailed story to it.

"One of the things I noticed first about Becky was her focus — her concentration when she wanted to learn something," Associate Professor Robinson said.

Researchers in the USA and Australia have looked at various aspects of Ms Sharrock's brain to try to unlock the secrets of how it works.

Functional MRI scans and testing have so far been unable to offer definite answers.

However, by understanding more fully just how Ms Sharrock manages to use her mind, neuroscientists hope to be able to understand more thoroughly how memory works, which may have broad-reaching benefits.

An opportunity to understand memory

As a GP, I see many patients with a deep fear of losing their memory.

More than 400,000 Australians live with dementia, with Alzheimer's disease being the most common cause.

So, it is more important than ever to further research into the way the brain encodes and stores memories.

Associate Professor Robinson believes people like Ms Sharrock with H-SAM offer us great opportunities to understand memory better.

"I am most passionate about finding ways that can enhance memory, so when people are faced with aging, with dementia, we can actually have strategies and ways to intervene to strengthen or hold memory at a level which is functional … so people have a good quality of life for as long as possible," she said.

"I think Becky holds the clues … that we can then use to translate into what other people can do to keep memories strong."

Dr Caroline West is a Sydney-based GP with more than 30 years of clinical experience, and the presenter of Catalyst: Memory Matters. Watch the full program tonight at 8:30pm, or later on iview.