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Revision as of 16:14, 11 May 2014 editLet99 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users1,149 edits Clarifying that eidetic is not the same thing as photographic memory in popular culture. This needs to be clearly stated.← Previous edit Revision as of 16:18, 11 May 2014 edit undoFlyer22 Frozen (talk | contribs)365,630 edits Stick to what the source state, and stop adding your WP:Original research.Next edit →
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{{About| the ability to perfectly recall images, sounds or objects|the TV show|Wogan's Perfect Recall|the video game developer|SCE Bend Studio|the 2011 documentary film|Photographic Memory (film)|}} {{About| the ability to perfectly recall images, sounds or objects|the TV show|Wogan's Perfect Recall|the video game developer|SCE Bend Studio|the 2011 documentary film|Photographic Memory (film)|}}


'''Eidetic memory''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|d|ɛ|t|ɪ|k|}}), often mistakenly confused with the non-existing<ref>http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/i-developed-what-appears-to-be-a-ph/</ref><ref>http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2006/04/kaavya_syndrome.single.html</ref> '''photographic memory''' or '''total recall''', is the ability to recall images, sounds or objects in ] with high precision for a few minutes, and is not acquired through ]s. The word ''eidetic'' comes from the Greek word ] ({{IPA-el|êːdos|pron}}, '']'', "seen").<ref name="AHD">{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/91/E0059100.html|title=Eidetic|work=], 4th ed.|year=2000|accessdate=2007-12-12}}</ref> '''Eidetic memory''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|d|ɛ|t|ɪ|k|}}), often mistakenly confused with the non-existing<ref>http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/i-developed-what-appears-to-be-a-ph/</ref><ref>http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2006/04/kaavya_syndrome.single.html</ref> ''']''' or '''total recall''', is the ability to recall images, sounds or objects in ] with great precision, and is not acquired through ]s. The word ''eidetic'' comes from the Greek word ] ({{IPA-el|êːdos|pron}}, '']'', "seen").<ref name="AHD">{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/91/E0059100.html|title=Eidetic|work=], 4th ed.|year=2000|accessdate=2007-12-12}}</ref>


==Overview== ==Overview==
⚫ The ability to recall images in great detail for several minutes is found in ] (between 2% and 10% of that age group) and is unconnected with the person's ] level. Like other memories, they are often subject to unintended alterations. The ability usually begins to fade after the age of six years, perhaps as growing vocal skills alter the memory process.<ref>{{cite news| last =Adams| first =William| title =The Truth About Photographic Memory| newspaper =Psychology Today| publisher =Sussex Publishers| date =1 March 2006| url =http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200603/the-truth-about-photographic-memory| accessdate =10 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last =Searleman| first =Alan| title =Is there such a thing as a photographic memory? And if so, can it be learned?| newspaper =Scientific American| publisher =Nature America| date =12 March 2007| url =http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-there-such-a-thing-as| accessdate =10 July 2013 }}</ref>

⚫ Eidetic memory is the ability to recall images in great detail for several minutes. It is found in ] (between 2% and 10% of that age group) and is unconnected with the person's ] level. Like other memories, they are often subject to unintended alterations. The ability usually begins to fade after the age of six years, perhaps as growing vocal skills alter the memory process.<ref>{{cite news| last =Adams| first =William| title =The Truth About Photographic Memory| newspaper =Psychology Today| publisher =Sussex Publishers| date =1 March 2006| url =http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200603/the-truth-about-photographic-memory| accessdate =10 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last =Searleman| first =Alan| title =Is there such a thing as a photographic memory? And if so, can it be learned?| newspaper =Scientific American| publisher =Nature America| date =12 March 2007| url =http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-there-such-a-thing-as| accessdate =10 July 2013 }}</ref>

The popular culture concept of "photographic memory" is not the same as eidetic memory, and photographic memory has never been demonstrated to exist.<ref>http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/i-developed-what-appears-to-be-a-ph/</ref><ref>http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2006/04/kaavya_syndrome.single.html</ref>


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 ] and ], memory skills can reportedly hinder social skills.<ref>{{cite news| last =Barber| first =Nigel| title =Remembering everything? Memory searchers suffer from amnesia!|newspaper =Psychology Today| publisher =Sussex| date =December 22, 2010| url =http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201012/remembering-everything| accessdate = July 10, 2013}}</ref> Shereshevsky was a trained mnemonist, not a photographic memorizer, and there are no studies that confirm whether Kim Peek had true photographic memory. 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 ] and ], memory skills can reportedly hinder social skills.<ref>{{cite news| last =Barber| first =Nigel| title =Remembering everything? Memory searchers suffer from amnesia!|newspaper =Psychology Today| publisher =Sussex| date =December 22, 2010| url =http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201012/remembering-everything| accessdate = July 10, 2013}}</ref> Shereshevsky was a trained mnemonist, not a photographic memorizer, and there are no studies that confirm whether Kim Peek had true photographic memory.

Revision as of 16:18, 11 May 2014

This article is about the ability to perfectly recall 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/), often mistakenly confused with the non-existing photographic memory or total recall, is the ability to recall images, sounds or objects in memory with great precision, and is not acquired through mnemonics. The word eidetic comes from the Greek word εἶδος (Template:IPA-el, eidos, "seen").

Overview

The ability to recall images in great detail for several minutes is found in early childhood (between 2% and 10% of that age group) and is unconnected with the person's intelligence level. Like other memories, they are often subject to unintended alterations. The ability usually begins to fade after the age of six years, perhaps as growing vocal skills alter the memory process.

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. Shereshevsky was a trained mnemonist, not a photographic memorizer, and there are no studies that confirm whether Kim Peek had true photographic memory.

Persons identified as having a condition known as Hyperthymesia (a.k.a., Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory or HSAM) are able to remember very intricate details of their own personal life, but this ability seems not to extend to other, non-autobiographical information. People with hyperthymesia have vivid recollections of such minutiae as what shoes a stranger wore or what they ate and how they felt on a specific date many years in the past. In cases where HSAM has been identified and studied, patients under study may show significantly different patterns of MRI brain activity from other individuals, or even have differences in physical brain structure. Possibly because of these extraordinary abilities, certain individuals have difficulties in social interactions with others who have normal memories (only 2 of 55 in the US have successful marriages), and may additionally suffer from depression stemming from the inability to forget unpleasant memories and experiences from the past. It has also been proposed that HSAM can be explained as a result of obsessive-compulsive thoughts about memories rather than "photographic memory".

Skeptical views

The American cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky, in his book The Society of Mind (1988), considered reports of eidetic memory to be an "unfounded myth".

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 non-experts, 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 non-experts, suggesting that they had developed an ability to organize certain types of information, rather than possessing innate eidetic ability.

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. She remains the only person documented to have passed such a test. However, the methodology of the testing procedures used is questionable (especially given the extraordinary nature of the claims being made) as is the fact that the researcher married his subject, and that the tests have never been repeated (Elizabeth has consistently refused to repeat them) raises further concerns.

Notable claims

Big Ben on a rainy evening in London, drawn entirely on the basis of memory by Stephen Wiltshire.
Main article: List of people claimed to possess an eidetic memory

With the questionable exception of Elizabeth (discussed above), as of 2008, an article claims that of the people rigorously scientifically tested, no one claiming to have long-term eidetic memory has proven this ability. There are a number of individuals with extraordinary memory who have been labeled eidetic, but many use mnemonics and other, non-eidetic memory enhancing exercises. Others have not been thoroughly tested.

Prodigious savants


In popular culture

The following characters are portrayed as having eidetic memory:

See also

References

  1. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/i-developed-what-appears-to-be-a-ph/
  2. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2006/04/kaavya_syndrome.single.html
  3. "Eidetic". American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed. 2000. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  4. Adams, William (1 March 2006). "The Truth About Photographic Memory". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  5. Searleman, Alan (12 March 2007). "Is there such a thing as a photographic memory? And if so, can it be learned?". Scientific American. Nature America. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  6. Barber, Nigel (December 22, 2010). "Remembering everything? Memory searchers suffer from amnesia!". Psychology Today. Sussex. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  7. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/quirks-memory/201301/people-extraordinary-autobiographical-memory
  8. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12/18/255285479/when-memories-never-fade-the-past-can-poison-the-present
  9. http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-04/ff_perfectmemory?currentPage=all
  10. 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 memorize 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.
  11. Stromeyer, C. F., Psotka, J. (1970). "The detailed texture of eidetic images". Nature. 225 (5230): 346–349. doi:10.1038/225346a0. PMID 5411116.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Thomas, N.J.T. (2010). Other Quasi-Perceptual Phenomena. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  13. Blakemore, C., Braddick, O., & Gregory, R.L. (1970). Detailed Texture of Eidetic Images: A Discussion. Nature, 226, 1267–1268.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. Treffert, Darold (1989). Extraordinary People: understanding "idiot savants". New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-015945-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. Martin, David. Savants: Charting "islands of genius", CNN broadcast September 14, 2006
  17. "Pi World Ranking List". Retrieved 12 February 2010.
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