# Does anyone here have a photographic memory?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-a-photographic-memory/677912>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 5, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-a-photographic-memory/677912 "2014-01-05T00:04:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-a-photographic-memory/677912/41 "2014-01-06T19:36:45Z")

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I can tell you what ingredients are in my kitchen, how the container is oriented, how much of each I have, and where it is. And my kitchen is not particularly orderly. If the kids would stay the hell out of the garage I could do the same with tools & car maintenance stuff (a notable exception: I have no idea where my 12 mm wrenches get to but I can never find one when I need it). Otherwise I have a horrible memory. It’s a common joke but this year I really did manage to order myself a Christmas present, and was surprised when I opened it.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-a-photographic-memory/677912/42 "2014-01-06T19:54:40Z")

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I’ve been told (by friends who studied psychology and such things) that I probably have an eidetic memory, at least for some things. For example, once I’ve driven to a location, I can always get back there – however, if I’ve only been there in the daytime, I can get lost trying to get there at night (possibly because things look differently). Similarly, I have a very good memory for faces, but a mediocre-to-poor memory for names.

All of that said, it’s something that definitely has weakened over time, especially after turning 40.

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**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-a-photographic-memory/677912/43 "2014-01-06T20:40:19Z")

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Um … what was the question?

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