Photographic memory, also known as eidotic memory, consists of the ability to encode visual or written information, visually and with a high level of detail, who owns it treats the image by scanning it with eyes in detail and, hours later, can remember as if it were still in front of it. It is estimated that only 1% of the population has this capacity, however, the actual existence of this capacity is not very clear.
There are those who argue that this skill is possessed only by certain children, but once they grow up, it disappears because of lack of training and stimulation, or because, in adults, there is a tendency to code in verbal and visual (non-photographic) terms. Others say it’s a myth, because testimonials always come from people who claim to have competence, not cognitive tests and objective assessments.
- The photographic memory has this name because the material to be memorized is captured as if it were an image.
- That is.
- The person with eidotic memory remembers everything that appeared in the image or on the page of a book.
- The way everything was located.
This could also apply to auditory stimuli. In this case, the melody or sounds would be encoded in memory as an image, the peculiarity of this type of memory is that the level of detail is incredible, for example, the person remembers the punctuation marks on an entire page.
While it has piqued the interest of scientists, its existence has not yet been able to be determined or clarified why this happens, in fact, it seems that few people have it, being more present in children, even if they have been lost. Over the years.
However, the terms visual memory and eidetic memory should not be confused. The first is the ability to memorize using visual stimuli, and the second puts special emphasis on the level of detail that the person is able to retain.
In this context, there are many doubts about its actual existence. Limited evidence supports a combination of various skills.
Thus, the ability to retain a material accurately is based on good visual memory, extraordinary skill, familiarity with material, effort, and even mnemonic strategies; in fact, most people who have this ability say they’ve spent their whole lives perfecting themselves. through practice.
Anyone with this skill generally stands out publicly for some of their achievements: painting a map of Rome from their head from a single-time aerial view, remembering every day of their life since childhood, or memorizing all the pages of more than 9,000 books. However, few reveal what they actually did to achieve this result.
Only some of these exceptional minds have told their tricks, and many of them agree with Loci’s method, also known as the Palace of Memory, which is a useful technique based on spatial memory, according to memory psychologists, the strongest memories are associated with an image, a place and/or emotions, so the person is more likely to remember something if it is possible to remember where it happened, for example.
Loci’s method is to imagine an itinerary that travels through various familiar places and where concepts are found as objects placed in this environment, that is, to imagine each element as if it were a vase, a painting or a plant.
So, on the way to recovering this memory, they appeared alone. This method, used from the 5th century to . C. , has been studied in prestigious universities, which have found that it contributes to greatly improve memory.
Given all that, yes. You can train photographic memory, you can use the Loci method or other strategies more adapted to each person, however what the researchers have said so far is that with good technique, good learning and good training you can achieve remarkable results.
In short, constant practice and effort are the key to many skills, and memory is one of them; however, there are people who from an early age already perform better than certain cognitive abilities, but that doesn’t mean they’re over. stand out or, if you don’t have a base, you won’t be able to reach the same levels.