How to get a photographic memory

Do anybody knows how to get a photographic memory.

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yes, short answer: there is no such thing as a photographic memory.

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Lol. :joy:

long answer: study art of memory techniques 3-4 years then go introduce yourself as a savant who never knew about art of memory

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Note too the datedness of this metaphor.

Why aren’t people chasing after James Webb-escope levels of memory?

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I’d just like to say that I’m fascinated by how, in memory it seems to be a very beautiful image, and yet at the same time I am somehow unable to convey the details.

You guys feel me? If you remember the image of something, it feels “photographic” and very fantasy-like, perhaps dreamy and hard to describe how real yet different it is. Now dreams have also always fascinated me, they are also quite “real-yet-different” and very shocking

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Stephen Wiltshire can draw detailed cityscapes from memory, after seeing them just once.

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yes but it’s not photographic. If you show him the page of a book for 1 second and ask him to write it from memory, he is not able to do it.

It’s a skill (with somme innate talent) for looking at landscapes and a kind of obsession about forms and buildings.

If you show a picture or a person to a painter or an artist, some of them can paint a very accurate drawing or portrait from memory. It’s an acquired skill with a lot of training behind.

In my opinion, the question behind it is not does it exist, but how can we improve our existing memory and give people useful tools instead of just impressive stories.

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The brain is not a camera. It takes neither stills or movies. IMO this is a misleading comparison. The image that your brain presents to you is built up from a sequence of small snapshots from the center of your vision and prior knowledge and expectations. Notice how much longer you have to look at something unfamiliar to properly see it than when recognizing a familiar object.

I often mentally refer to paragraphs of text that I remember. I can visualize the text very clearly. But strangely it’s always located in the middle of the right hand page in bold MS font. It’s a fabrication or perhaps a distillation manufactured from the raw material of individual memories and comprehension.

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The best argument that I’ve seen against “photographic” memory is that if it existed, wouldn’t someone with photographic memory win all of the memory competitions and take the cash prizes? The person would instantly become rich and famous as the first proven case of photographic memory. Until that happens, I’m going to be skeptical about the idea.

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It was only an example of a person with a quasi-photographic memory.

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Yeah… look out Alex/Andrea. These people will be doing 1 second cards. Fortunately for Alex/Andrea they dont exist.

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I believe I have said in the past that photographic memory is not real. However, I see that Dr Andrew Huberman seems consider it a legit phenomenon. I don’t know one way or another, but I have found his videos to be very informative on other subjects related to neuroscience and the mind.

Dr Andrew Huberman (neuroscientist) on improving your memory - Neuroscience, Psychology, and Health - Art of Memory Forum

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I think it could be developed by being very observant and focusing on details like using paintings or photographs as virtual memory palaces. Though not lightning speed, still it would be above par than an ordinary individual.

I sent him a message to ask for more info, though I don’t know if he will see it. Maybe there’s a case we don’t know about, or the word “photographic” is being used in some other way.

If anyone wants to skip to that part, comments about photographic memory are here.

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I have met Andrew and talked with him. Great guy but nobody is right (or wrong) all the time.

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There are a few anecdotal cases of photographic memory, but I wouldn’t call the ones I’ve seen “photographic”. It seems more like “extraordinary base memory combined with obsessive interest and practice”. Their abilities aren’t any less amazing for achieving them with practice, but I’m not convinced that “photographic” is the right description.

(An easy way to test someone for photographic memory would be to instantly put them on level 10 Memory League numbers and words to see how they do, without any practice. :slight_smile: )

There is at least one psychiatrist who made claims about observing people with photographic memory, but he wasn’t careful in his research. (He also made some wild claims about ESP.) There isn’t time to check original sources for every fact, and sometimes things he said get repeated without verification.

The term “photographic memory” is sometimes used as a synonym for “eidetic imagery” in conversations. I’ve tried to go back to original sources for claims about eidetic imagery and didn’t find anything photographic there yet. (I’m going to look for my notes later.)

Here’s one quote:

In fact, there is no scientific consensus regarding the nature, the proper definition, or even the very existence of eidetic imagery, even in children (see the commentaries published with Haber, 1979). Some investigators, most notably Haber (1979), hold that it is a real (albeit elusive), distinct, and sui generis psychological phenomenon, whose mechanisms and psychological functions (if any) may well turn out to be quite different from those of ordinary memory or imagination imagery. Others, however, such as Gray & Gummerman (1975) and Bugelski (1979), argue that reports of eidetic imagery are best understood merely as rather hyperbolic descriptions that are sometimes given, by some children (and, perhaps, the occasional uneducated and illiterate adult), of ordinary (though perhaps particularly vivid) visual memory imagery.

Also this:

Eidetic imagery is predominantly, but rarely, found in children from 6 to 12 years and virtually absent in adult populations… It is important to mention that eidetic imagery is not photographic and hence does not generally benefit memory performance …

Related:

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