Eidetic memory

This article is about the ability to recall perfectly images, sounds, or objects. For the TV show, see Wogan's Perfect Recall. For the video game developer, see SCE Bend Studio. For the 2011 documentary film, see Photographic Memory (film).

Eidetic memory (/aɪˈdɛtɪk/) or photographic memory is an ability to vividly recall images from memory after only a few instances of exposure, with high precision for some time after exposure without using mnemonics;[1][2] the terms eidetic memory and photographic memory may also be distinguished, with the latter being considered a myth.[3] Eidetic memory occurs in a small number of children and generally is not found in adults.[1] The word eidetic comes from the Greek word εἶδος (pronounced [êːdos], eidos, "seen").[4]

Eidetic or photographic memory

Eidetic memory is the ability to recall visual information in great detail after only brief exposure to the material. Slate stated that the popular culture concept of "photographic memory," where someone can briefly look at a page of text and then recite it perfectly from memory indefinitely, is not the same as eidetic memory and has never been demonstrated to exist.[3] Scientific American also reported that photographic memory has never been proven to exist.[5] Eidetic memory, however, is possible, but is far more common in young children.[3] "Eidetikers", as those who possess this ability are called, report a vivid after image that lingers in the visual field with their eyes appearing to scan across the image as it is described.[6] Contrary to ordinary mental imagery, eidetic images are externally projected, experienced as "out there" rather than in the mind. Vividness and stability of the image begins to fade within minutes after the removal of the visual stimulus.[7]

Eidetic memory has been found in 2 to 10 percent of children aged 6 to 12 and is virtually nonexistent in adults. It has been hypothesized that language acquisition and verbal skills allow older children to think more abstractly and thus rely less on visual memory systems. Extensive research has failed to demonstrate consistent correlations between the presence of eidetic imagery and any cognitive, intellectual, neurological or emotional measure.[2]

Autism

A high percentage of people on the autistic spectrum do have savant abilities, including diverse degrees of eidetic memory. This ability is commonly associated with "thinking in pictures" instead of words,[8][9] or difficulties extracting conceptual information from visual data. For example, eidetic ability as a result of autism may involve remembering a specific dog in high detail but not being able to perceive different dogs as belonging to the same kind of animal, or remembering a face in high detail but not being able to recognize it after small changes, like after new hairstyle or the addition of jewelry.

The British autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire is able to draw finely detailed landscapes, especially of complex buildings such as the Manhattan and London skylines, after only a brief exposure.[10] 'Discovered' as a teenager, Wiltshire still uses his skills as an adult, an exception to the assertion that eidetic memory fades in adulthood. Encouraged by his family in order to help him learn to speak, he created a series of 26 coded pictures, all of which corresponded to a letter of the alphabet.[11] Many individuals on the autism spectrum struggle with verbal deficiency through adulthood, but Wiltshire's manipulation of visual material from a young age allowed him to verbalize his thoughts while developing the precursor to an eidetic mind.

Exclusions

To constitute true eidetic memory, the visual recall must persist without the use of mnemonics, expert talent, or other cognitive strategies. Various cases have been reported that rely on such skills and are erroneously attributed to eidetic memory.

An example of extraordinary memory abilities being ascribed to eidetic memory comes from the popular interpretations of Adriaan de Groot's classic experiments into the ability of chess grandmasters to memorize complex positions of chess pieces on a chess board. Initially it was found that these experts could recall surprising amounts of information, far more than nonexperts, suggesting eidetic skills. However, when the experts were presented with arrangements of chess pieces that could never occur in a game, their recall was no better than the nonexperts, suggesting that they had developed an ability to organize certain types of information, rather than possessing innate eidetic ability.

Individuals identified as having a condition known as Hyperthymesia are able to remember very intricate details of their own personal life, but the ability seems not to extend to other, non-autobiographical information.[12] They may have vivid recollections such as who they were with, what they were wearing, and how they were feeling on a specific date many years in the past. Patients under study, such as Jill Price, show brain scans that resemble those with obsessive–compulsive disorder. In fact, Price's unusual autobiographical memory has been attributed as a byproduct of compulsively making journal and diary entries. Hyperthymestic patients may additionally suffer from depression stemming from the inability to forget unpleasant memories and experiences from the past.[13] It is a misconception that hyperthymesia suggests any eidetic ability.

Skeptical views

The American cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky, in his book The Society of Mind (1988), considered reports of photographic memory to be an "unfounded myth."[14] Furthermore, there is no scientific consensus regarding the nature, the proper definition, or even the very existence of eidetic imagery, even in children.[7]

Scientific skepticism about the existence of eidetic memory was fueled around 1970 by Charles Stromeyer, who studied his future wife, Elizabeth, who claimed that she could recall poetry written in a foreign language that she did not understand years after she had first seen the poem. She also could, apparently, recall random dot patterns with such fidelity as to combine two patterns into a stereoscopic image.[15][16] She remains the only person documented to have passed such a test. However, the methods used in the testing procedures could be considered questionable, (especially given the extraordinary nature of the claims being made)[17] as is the fact that the researcher married his subject. Additionally, that the tests have never been repeated (Elizabeth has consistently refused to repeat them)[18] raises further concerns.

A few adults have had phenomenal memories (not necessarily of images), but their abilities are also unconnected with their intelligence levels and tend to be highly specialized. In extreme cases, like those of Solomon Shereshevsky and Kim Peek, memory skills can reportedly hinder social skills.[19] Shereshevsky was a trained mnemonist, not a eidetic memoriser, and there are no studies that confirm whether Kim Peek had true eidetic memory.

Notable claims

With the questionable exception of Elizabeth, a 2006 article in Slate magazine claimed that, of the people rigorously scientifically tested, no one claiming to have long-term eidetic memory had this ability proven.[18] There are a number of individuals whose extraordinary memory has been labeled "eidetic," but many use mnemonics and other, non-eidetic memory-enhancing exercises. Others have not been thoroughly tested.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Eidetic image", Encyclopaedia Britannica
  2. 1 2 "Twenty years of haunting eidetic imagery: where's the ghost?"
  3. 1 2 3 "Kaavya Syndrome: The accused Harvard plagiarist doesn't have a photographic memory. No one does."
  4. ↑ "Eidetic". American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed. 2000. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  5. ↑ "Does Photographic Memory Exist?"
  6. ↑ "The Truth About Photographic Memory". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  7. 1 2 "Mental Imagery > Other Quasi-Perceptual Phenomena (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)". plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  8. ↑ Sahyoun, Chérif P.; John W. Belliveau; Isabelle Soulières; Shira Schwartz; Maria Mody (2010). "Neuroimaging of the Functional and Structural Networks Underlying Visuospatial versus Linguistic Reasoning in High-Functioning Autism" (PDF). Neuropsychologia 48: 86–95. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.013. PMC 2795068. PMID 19698726. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  9. ↑ Sacks, Temple Grandin ; with a foreword by Oliver (2006). Thinking in pictures : and other reports from my life with autism (2nd Vintage Books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0307275653.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ "Quirks of Memory: A Retrieval System Roundup"
  13. ↑ "When Memories Never Fade, The Past Can Poison The Present"
  14. ↑ Minsky, Marvin (1998). Society of Mind. Simon & Schuster. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-671-65713-0. ...we often hear about people with 'photographic memories' that enable them to quickly memorise all the fine details of a complicated picture or a page of text in a few seconds. So far as I can tell, all of these tales are unfounded myths, and only professional magicians or charlatans can produce such demonstrations.
  15. ↑ Stromeyer, C. F., Psotka, J. (1970). "The detailed texture of eidetic images". Nature 225 (5230): 346–349. doi:10.1038/225346a0. PMID 5411116.
  16. ↑ Thomas, N.J.T. (2010). Other Quasi-Perceptual Phenomena. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  17. ↑ Blakemore, C., Braddick, O., & Gregory, R.L. (1970). Detailed Texture of Eidetic Images: A Discussion. Nature, 226, 1267–1268.
  18. 1 2 Foer, Joshua (April 27, 2006). "Kaavya Syndrome: The accused Harvard plagiarist doesn't have a photographic memory. No one does.". Slate. Retrieved December 16, 2012.
  19. ↑ Barber, Nigel (December 22, 2010). "Remembering everything? Memory searchers suffer from amnesia!". Psychology Today (Sussex). Retrieved July 10, 2013.

External links

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