Does anyone here have a photographic memory?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I don’t blame you for being skeptical, njitt; in your position, I would be too. I did note in my post that much of what you’re saying is true- that ‘photographic’ is a misnomer; that it’s really just far superior recollection with special attention to detail; but then, if I’d taken a test and failed, I’d probably use that to justify claiming abilities I probably didn’t have. I’m not boasting atything so miraculous as the shysters of old claim; it’s doing something anyone can do- just better, and more easily.

It’s notably superior memory. How much? I don’t know. Enough to make a real difference, not so much it acts like a machine. That’s all it means, nearly all it has ever meant. The term wasn’t coined by people rigorously following the scientific method. It was a convenient shorthand to powerfully express a relatively complex idea. What term would you use?

22

When I was young, I had a photographic memory. I remember a test in 5th grade social studies where I read the question and didn’t know the answer. But I could remember what page of the book the answer was on, and mentally flipped over there to read it.

My elementary teachers used to give vocabulary assignments where we had to define terms using our own words. “My own words” were quite likely to be straight from a dictionary if I went with my first instinct. Not only did I know the writing style for dictionaries, but I really did remember the dictionary definitions for a lot of words. If I wanted credit on the assignment, I had to kid-ify the definitions. (Frankly, that sums up most of my K-12 education.)

However, my memory was always better with written content, and it always required connections to other things. In those pop-psych tests for a photographic memory where you look at a picture of a shelf full of random items and then describe them later, I performed little better than the average person. I needed a story or set of relationships with the objects to remember them. In my memory, I create webs between things. If I can link information/images to two or three other bits of information, I’ll remember all of them (including the image of them).

Also, this never worked with faces. Ask me to associate a name with a face and I’m hopeless. Ask me to associate a name with a phone number, a QuickBooks password, and last year’s tax refund and I’m like to have that top of mind. I’m told this probably puts me somewhere on the autism spectrum, but I’ve never been diagnosed that way.

Anyway, when my physical vision went to hell (around the start of college), my photographic memory also went to hell. I’m not sure if there’s really a direct connection there, but nowadays, I can’t pull off that 5th grade trick. I can tell you what page it’s on and where it is, but the memory of the page is blurry and I can’t read it.

23

I had an implant and am now digital.

Correct, it’s probably a myth. The master speaks.

24

I don’t have perfect recall by any means, but I do remember things as pictures or like short movie clips or something. It comes in handy with the inventory and stocking of medications and supplies that I do, but only works if I have things mostly in the same place. I can open the medication closet or the shelves in the basement, and know quickly what’s missing from where, without needing to make a list. I can then go to my online ordering system and “look” through the shelves and closet in my head for what was missing and order what I need to. Of course it’s relatively short term, and the images get “replaced” by whatever’s most recent. It’s not like I can remember every week’s inventory for the last year or anything, just the most recent.

But that may be just a habit or certain skill I’ve learned over time?

I’ve always wondered about people who take things from shelves and then don’t put them back in exactly the same spot they found it. It only recently occurred to me that they might not actually remember where they got it from, so I don’t get as pissy about it as I used to.

25

True photographic memory, where you can glance at a scene and reproduce that scene in your head, is definitely, absolutely, a myth. Even if the brain is capable of it (a possibility I would not casually rule out), the eyes aren’t. The distribution of sensors on our retinas is not uniform: It’s very high in a very small region near the center, but much lower further out, which means that we have high resolution only near the center of our visual field. In order to see, say, an entire page of text in detail, we need to scan our eyes across it to sweep the high-resolution portion across it, and that takes time.

26

I can reproduce music in detail from memory well, so I guess I have a phonographic memory.

27

I have generally excellent recall for material I’ve read. This was a huge asset when I wrote my thus-far magnum opus; over about two years, I wrote a long and very complex book describing hundreds of written works… and did so almost entirely from memory, without more than occasional reference to the works in question. Only in the final draft did I actually review the material against each work, and while I occasionally found a few more points to add, I did not have to make many corrections of fact or recall.

While that was something of an exceptional instance, I have never needed to work with the classic spread of references around me; I can retain enough material to write complex syntheses that need only minor proofing corrections.

I’m not sure if that qualifies as an eidetic memory, but it’s been damned useful. :slight_smile:

28

Although, I’ve never been tested, I have a photographic memory in the “literal” sense.

When I was in middle school and high school, I’d get near-perfect scores, in History and Mathematics courses, just by reading through the texts one or twice. The reason was that history and math texts had photos or graphs on most of the pages, and I remembered those images and then was able to recreate most of the text on those pages. In other courses, however, like literature and languages, the texts and or reading material, didn’t have those kind of images.

When I got to college, I took an Evelyn Woods speed-reading course, and although it only slightly improved my reading pace, it did have a very valuable tool, in which, after reading a chapter, you’d stop and create a tree-diagram of the information. Those tree-diagrams, tailored to my own tastes, provided an image that I could remember. Although, an argument could be made that just the act of “working with the material” in that manner was what was boosting my comprehension and recall.

I am/was also a very strong chess player, not because I remembered long opening variations, but because I was able to retain many key positions and their significance. I may not be able to remember every move from a game, but I can reproduce the key position of most of my seriously played games, even from 30 years ago.

In the non-academic, real world, I work with a lot of reports and numbers, and, if I take the time to build various types of graphs, charts and power-point diagrams, I’m able to recall them precisely.

29

If you want to see a phenomenal display of memory, check out Kim Peek, the megasavant who was the inspiration for the character of Raymond in Rain Man. For a glimpse of some of his abilities, watch a few minutes of this.

30

I have a “good” memory, and have never lost a bet when comparing what I remembered to what others remember if objective proof of what happened can be found.

3.97 for MS, 3.98 for BS

31

Interesting responses. Thanks. It’s hard, maybe impossible, to describe how one experiences the world inside their own head or to know exactly how anyone else experiences it. I appreciate the comments very much.

This presupposes that the material you’re trying to remember is actually organized in a way that can be structured. :rolleyes:

I had a friend who was into Neuro-Linguistic Programming a while back and we used to talk about remembering stuff with images. (I can’t remember what that had to do with NLP, but it seemed relevant.) For example, when I picture upcoming appointments, I don’t have a mental picture of a calendar page with stuff marked on it. The picture in my mind is more like a sidewalk with the blocks delineated by cracks (just like the sidewalk I used to skate on with my metal skates attached to my shoes with a key) stretching off into the future. The block I’m standing on is today, and several squares ahead I see *hair appointment *and the next day take dog for shots. It extends pretty far straight ahead, not doubling back on itself like a calendar, for about a month. I still do rely heavily on my calendar and use alarms. (I’m one of three people in the world who still use a Palm Pilot.)

This is only tangential to photographic memory, but hey! it’s my thread, so there. :stuck_out_tongue:

32

Of course, some material is more difficult to relate to images, but if that’s the you learned things, from a very early age, then you’re probably going to be more successful at coming up with ways to chart a wider variety of subjects.

When in college, I had modern language requirement, and, unfortunately, the college had just moved to the “immersion” method where there was no English spoken in class nor in the text book. Now the text had all kinds of pictures in it (Eiffel Tower, etc.) but the words on the page were all in French, so all I was connecting to was jabberwocky. I had to drop the course (I was failing). Eventually, I studied on my own with a pre 1970’s text that taught French the old-fashioned way, and pass by examination. But I’ve never been able to converse in French – although my vocabulary is pretty extensive.

One more thing… I remember doing a puzzle as a little kid… it was a map of the US, with 48 pieces representing 48 states (it was 1959) that you’d put into a bordered board of the USA. Each state-piece, had the capital city of that state. And my family was amazed when, at 4 years old, or so, I could remember all of the capital cities of the 48 states. A few years later, my uncle would quiz me for the capital cities, and the only one I missed was “Juneau, Alaska,” because it wasn’t a state when I did the puzzle. In fact, I was almost an adult before I could remember that one missing piece.

Similar item – I learned the multiplication tables quickly, by making my own chart, but I misplaced 6x9 with 7x8, and to this day, I still screw them up, unless I’m being very deliberate.

33

I think different people just have different aptitudes for this sort of thing. For me, it’s always been numbers and lists. My driver’s license number when I was 15? 181232. My home phone when I was a kid? 272-0235. I used to have the inventories of all the tool kits under my control in my head. These were construction kits and well stocked. But ask me the name of somebody I met just a minute ago? Forget about it.

34

I do for faces.

35

:smiley: This is awfully familiar for someone I know very well and intimately.

36

Pictures or it … Ah, never mind. We can’t do that anymore, can we? :frowning:

37

No, I suppose we can’t, Siam Sam.

With regards to the OP’s post. My memory has changed a lot in the last few years, but only certain aspects of it. My women friends keep telling me it has to do with menopause and age. When it comes to people – their faces and mannerisms, it’s absolutely intact. I know, eh? What good will that ever do me?

38

I have an excellent memory, but it’s hardly photographic. The best way I can describe it is when I think of the past, it’s like it happened just now and I can remember everything. It’s fun to quote conversations you had with people decades after they happened.

39

I’ve trained my memory to do a couple of things, but it’s certainly not photographic.

I can play blindfold chess perfectly (but so can most international players.)

I can remember every significant card when playing bridge (i.e. high cards and trumps.)
I don’t know if I could remember the difference between say the 2, 3 + 4 of an unimportant suit.

WIth the chess, I visualise a chess board and pieces. It’s sort of a ‘TV screen’, with a ‘wavy’ appearance (like the screen is being constantly refreshed.)

The bridge just means I know if a particular card has been played (like a binary option.)

40

Hyperthymesia is reasonably well-documented, and is not a result of mnemonic strategies. Or am I mistaken on that point?