#Eidetic memory vs photographic memory how to

Normally, this induction takes many rounds of stimulation to start working so our brain can hold onto memories for long periods of time. Over time, the synapses that work to hold onto our memories are strengthened through repeated usage, producing long-term memories. Memory is thought to be facilitated by changes at the neuronal level due to long-term potentiation. This has caused sensory stimuli to last in the memory for longer durations than most people. Neuroscience researchers hypothesize that photographic memory involves something in the brain being wired incorrectly. The Neuroscience Behind Photographic Memory Since photographic memory involves seeing visual images, it must be on the very basic sensory level that eidetic memory functions. In these rare cases, visual information gets stored as an actual image in the sensory input/reception stage. Since there are only isolated examples of people with eidetic memory throughout the study of neuroscience, many have concluded that there isn’t any explanation for how this phenomenon works neurologically.

Also, how much we replay/connect material affects our memory as well. How well we remember things largely depends on how well we pay attention when information is presented to us.

Finally, it is stored in your long-term memory.

Next, it is processed by your short-term memory.

Then it is received by the visual cortex.

First, the information is sent as a sensory input to your visual system.

#Eidetic memory vs photographic memory how to

In the article How to Improve Your Short-Term Memory: Study Tips to Remember Everything, we go over how pieces of information go through a series of stages before they are retained in your long-term memory: People vary in their ability to remember the past. However, recent studies have indicated that over time, people’s memories of such events will inevitably fade away. Until recently, such memories were thought to be permanent, always strong in quality. This means in highly emotional situations, people tend to remember events so vividly that the memories take on photographic quality. This type of recall seems to be connected to the phenomenon of flashbulb memory. Luria also documents a woman named “Elizabeth,” who could mentally project images composed of thousands of tiny dots onto a black canvas.īoth also had the ability to reproduce poetry in languages they could not understand years after seeing it written. He could memorize anything from the books on Luria’s office shelves to complex math formulas. There have been a few well-documented cases of such remarkable photographic recall, such as “S.” This person was subject of Alexander Luria’s book, The Mind of a Mnemonist. To recollect a past event, we piece together various remembered elements and typically forget parts of what happened (examples: the color of the wall, the picture in the background, the exact words that were said)…We are good at remembering the gist of what happened and less good at remembering (photographically) all the elements of a past scene.” However, none of the participants could do this successfully.įor Professor Squire, “Memory is more like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle than a photograph. If memory works like a photograph, then these people should be able to accomplish the task with ease. After, they had to report the text in reverse order. In Professor Squire’s lab, he has asked people who think they have photographic memories to read two or three lines of text. However, according to the University of Chicago, San Diego Professor Larry Squire (who specializes in Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Psychology) the brain simply does not actually work this way. Someone with a photographic memory is supposed to be able to take mental snapshots and then later recall these snapshots without error. A camera can freeze a moment in time in the form of a photograph. It’s the ability to remember an unlimited amount of visual information in great detail. In the world of neuroscience, Photographic memory is also known as eidetic imagery.

B ut do our brains actually hold onto memories with inner photos or videos? Pop culture today portrays geniuses as those with photographic memories.

A photographic memory is usually used to describe when someone has the remarkable ability to recall visual information in great detail.