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Eidetic memory //, commonly referred to as photographic memory or total recall, is the alleged ability to recall images, sounds or objects in memory with extreme precision. The word eidetic, referring to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall not limited to, but especially of, visual images, comes from the Greek word εἶδος (pronounced [êːdos], eidos, "seen").
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While people with photographic memory can recall very precise visual information such as a newspaper clip from ten years ago, a person with eidetic memory can recall other sensory information including auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory in addition to visual recall. Many discussions conflate eidetic memory with photographic memory. While people with photographic memory have complete control of their recall, a person with eidetic memory will likely have little control over the recall of many memories due to the overload of sensory information such as feelings, sounds, smell and physical body responses. In some cases the attempt to recall specific details can be painful as they attempt to search through all the collected data, and the interruption of other memories that are just as strong.
The distinction between photographic memory and eidetic memory is simple. Perfect visual recall is photographic memory such as reading a newspaper once and remembering it 10 years later as mentioned above, while eidetic memory is recalling more than just the visual information. It is common for eidetic-memory possessing individuals[dubious ] to confuse the dates and times of past events due to the perception that their memories are more recent due to the information stored and recalled. Individuals with eidetic memory can seem lost, distant, aloof or not in the present moment. They tend to have a harder time recalling visual-only information as their brains don't isolate or divide information as important or unimportant as if there is no filter on the information stored. While they can succeed with education it takes more energy and learning tools must be found early on. It is as if they see everything and store every bit of information that is possible. People with eidetic memory will often recall memories from when they were babies, and in early childhood easier than those with normal or even photographic memory.
Eidetic memory can possibly cause problems with sleeping and dreaming. Since the memories are stored differently with eidetic memory, distinguishing between the dream state and the awake state can become difficult. Oftentimes dreams are remembered as if they were actual events. Waking up can also become difficult as the person sees themselves completing daily routines just as clearly in a dream as they do when awake. Nightmares are equally dangerous, causing fear as realistically in a dream as it does while awake. This can lead to physiological disorders if the true nature of eidetic memory isn't found during therapy sessions. The lack of understanding, research, and standardization of tests with what types of memory a person can possess can leave people confused and thinking that they may have a mental disorder when they just process information differently.
Some people who generally have a good memory claim to have eidetic memory. However, there are distinct differences in the manner in which information is processed. In some cases even people who have photographic memory claim to have eidetic memory, not fully understanding the difference. Having good memory is usually a sign that a person does not have eidetic memory. People who have good memory often use mnemonic devices (such as division of an idea into enumerable elements) to retain information while those with eidetic memory remember every specific detail about the event, such as the temperature, how the person was standing, their non-verbal cues, what the person was wearing, how they felt about the situation, etc. They may recall an event with greater detail while those with a different memory remember daily routines rather than specific details that may have interrupted a routine. However, this process is generally most evident when those with eidetic memory make an effort to remember such details.
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.
A. R. Luria wrote a famous account, Mind of a Mnemonist, of a subject with a remarkable memory, S. V. Shereshevskii; among various extraordinary feats, he could memorize lengthy lists of random words and recall them perfectly decades later. Luria believed the man had effectively unlimited recall; Shereshevskii is believed by some[who?] to be, like Kim Peek, a prodigious savant. Shereshevskii used memorization techniques where he "arranged" objects along a specific stretch of Gorky Road and went back and "picked" them up one by one. He missed an egg once because he claims he placed it by a white picket fence and did not see it when he went back for it. This is an example of a trained memory that uses the method of loci rather than an eidetic or photographic memory.
Claims of eidetic memory
With the questionable exception of Elizabeth (discussed above), as of 2008, no one claiming to have long-term eidetic memory has been able to prove this in scientific tests. There are a number of individuals with extraordinary memory who have been labeled eidetickers, but many use mnemonics and other, non-eidetic memory enhancing exercises.
- Stephen Wiltshire, MBE, a prodigious savant. He is capable of drawing the entire skyline of a city after a helicopter ride.
- Kim Peek, prodigious savant and inspiration for the character Raymond Babbit, played by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man.
- Daniel Tammet, holder of the European record for reciting Pi to 22,514 digits.
In popular culture
Television characters with eidetic memories include Dr. Douglas "Doogie" Howser from Doogie Howser, M.D., Special Agent Fox Mulder from The X-Files, Professor X from X-Men, Zack from Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, Max Guevara from Dark Angel, Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote, Victoria Sinclair and her uncle Sir George Sinclair from 2008 TV movie The 39 Steps, Bane from Batman, Detective Adrian Monk from Monk, Jimmy Neutron from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Dr. Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds, Dr. Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap, Dr. Lexie Grey from Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, Percival Rose from Nikita, Symbologist Robert Langdon from Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol and Inferno, Ingrid Third from Fillmore!, Shawn Spencer from Psych, Olivia Dunham from Fringe, Myka Bering from Warehouse 13, Mozzie from White Collar, Olive Doyle from Disney's A.N.T. Farm, Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Kes and Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, Spock from Star Trek: The Original Series, Susan Ivanova from Babylon 5, Brick Heck from The Middle, Charlie Andrews from Heroes, The Eleventh Doctor from Doctor Who, Mike Ross from Suits, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, and Carrie Wells from Unforgettable.
In Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events series, one of the three protagonists, Klaus Baudelaire, is an avid reader and amateur researcher with an eidetic memory. He virtually remembers everything that he reads from books of any kind, even learned many languages. His knowledge and resources often help his other siblings, Violet and Sunny, to escape from dangerous situations, e.g. Count Olaf, the primary antagonist of the series.
In the Swedish Millennium series by Stieg Larsson (and its accompanying films), the hacker heroine Lisbeth Salander has an eidetic memory. In the movie Good Will Hunting, the main character, Will Hunting, is said to possess both an extraordinary IQ and an eidetic memory; demonstrated at the bar scene where he confronts a plagiarist.
Significant parts of the plot of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett depend on the hyperthymestic, eidetic memory of the novice Brutha. He remembers every moment of his life in perfect detail, down to the precise location and timing of individual footsteps. He cannot read, but he can nevertheless make perfect reproductions of documents from memory because he remembers the shapes of the letters. When he witnesses a disreputable action and is ordered to forget it, he does not understand the order as he has no concept of "forgetting". When asked what is the first thing that he can remember, he replies "There was a bright light, and then someone hit me".
The novel My Idea of Fun by author Will Self features a protagonist with a powerful eidetic memory, and this is explored extensively by Self. In this novel, the eidetic capabilities of the "Eidetiker" greatly exceed those described in this article.
In the visual novels Jisei, Kansei and Yousei by SakeVisual one of the characters, Naoki Mizutani, possesses an eidetic memory.
- Ayumu - a chimpanzee whose performance in short-term memory tests is higher than university students
- Exceptional memory – scientific background to the research into exceptional memory
- Hyperthymesia – a condition characterised by superior autobiographical memory
- Mnemonic - any learning technique that aid information retention
- Synaptic plasticity - ability of the strength of a synapse to change
- "Eidetic". American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed. 2000. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
- 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."
- Stromeyer, C. F., Psotka, J. (1970). "The detailed texture of eidetic images". Nature 225 (5230): 346–349. doi:10.1038/225346a0. PMID 5411116.
- Thomas, N.J.T. (2010). Other Quasi-Perceptual Phenomena. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Blakemore, C., Braddick, O., & Gregory, R.L. (1970). Detailed Texture of Eidetic Images: A Discussion. Nature, 226, 1267–1268.
- 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.
- Treffert, Darold (1989). Extraordinary People: understanding "idiot savants". New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-015945-6.
- Martin, David. Savants: Charting "islands of genius", CNN broadcast September 14, 2006
- Kim Peek: savant who was the inspiration for the film Rain Man
- "Pi World Ranking List". Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- Larsson, Stieg (2009). The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. p. 462. ISBN 978-0-307-47347-9. "'Lisbeth, you have a photographic memory,' Mikael exclaimed in surprise. 'That's why you can read a page of the investigation in ten seconds.'"
- Self, Will (1993). My Idea of Fun. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 165. ISBN 0-7475-1591-3. "I went into a full-blown eidetic trance."