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. When the concepts are distinguished, eidetic memory is reported to occur in a small number of children and is generally not found in adults, while true photographic memory has never been demonstrated to exist. Additionally, there is no real scientific consensus regarding its nature, the proper definition, or even the actual existence of eidetic imagery, even in that of children. She also could seemingly recall random dot patterns with such fidelity as to combine two patterns from memory into a stereoscopic image. She remains the only person documented to have passed such a test.
On the other hand, a person with hyperthymesia can recall minute details of their personal life. Marvin Minsky argued in his book The Society of Mind that the reported cases of eidetic memory should be considered as “unfounded myth”. This view was supported by an experimental study conducted by psychologist Adriaan de Groot.
Can you solve 4 words at once?
Says Searleman, “If they were truly ‘photographic’ in nature, you wouldn’t expect any errors at all.” Their memories are exceptional, but certainly not as perfect as actual photographs. Doctors have yet to understand what exactly is happening in the brains of individuals with HSAM, and tests reveal there is no particular ability that appears to underpin the condition.
Not everyone will understand you. That’s life.
You would then remember the word when you wish to call up the person’s name. There’s no scientific evidence that you can train your memory to become photographic.
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That same year, photographer Susan Schwartzenberg went to Pontito to photograph the scenes of many of Magnani’s paintings. This was done as part of a study to document the astonishing accuracy of the artists work. This study would be revealed in an art exhibit on memory in 1988. This garnered much attention by researchers such as Bob Miller who suggested that this work could reveal the accuracy, distortions, and inventions of Magnani’s memory. These photographs showed something interesting about Magnani’s work that was not previously evident. The Exploratorium, which hosted the exhibit for which Schwartzenberg took photos for, explains this observation while examining a drawing of a church. The VSS stores visual and spatial information as part of Short Term Memory which is used in working memory for problem solving.
Those with photographic memories may be able to commit more information to their long-term memory. Some people use the terms photographic memory and eidetic memory interchangeably, but these two phenomena are different.