Hi People,
I just found about Photographic memory can be learnt so after doing research I came to know about “Sirianni Method” & “military method”
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/j7tEDrwnfjcswA46y/how-to-develop-a-photographic-memory-2-3
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I’m not convinced that “photographic memory” exists. In the history of memory competitions, no one with photographic memory has ever showed up to my knowledge, even though there are sometimes large cash prizes.
Does anyone here know of someone who claims to have photographic memory who has ever showed up at a memory competition?
There are some related discussions here:
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It’s the kind of thing that so many people claim to have since a very long time, but no one goes to the scientifics to demonstrate it (unlike for example HSAM which is well documented), strange that…
That being said, the article linked seems to have simply a bad title. With the techniques described (mind maps, memory palace, associations, shaper, learnt synesthesia, etc.), it’s simply “memory techniques to remember text verbatim quickly”… But I suppose it isn’t as cool as “photographic memory”.
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I also believe photographic memory doesn’t exist. But I heard of someone remembering whole newspaper Verbatim.
Learning something verbatim doesn’t mean having a photographic memory, though…
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How is Verbatim possible?
For my part, a memory palace, a library of predefined images for concepts coming up regularly, and the first letter method. But everyone doing it has developed their personal method.
It’s not my favourite thing though, other people on this forum are much better at it. Usually people do it for sacred texts, poetry, laws, material for exams (definitions and such) and scripts (actors playing for theater/movie).
If you search for “verbatim” on this forum, there’s going to be plenty of results, I even think there’s a tag.
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If you type a hash sign (#) and then a word, it should auto-complete. verbatim-text
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As far as verbatim memory goes… If I tallied up all of the song lyrics, all of the poems, all of the dialog in movie scenes that I know perfectly, it would probably be the equivilent of hundreds of pages. I think many if not most people could say the same thing. So sure its possible. As for the how, most of it for me was just acquired organically through normal life experience and repetition. There needs to be a reason to care about the material. There needs to be a point to make it worth it, for me.
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I think progress can be made by thinking about WHY things like song lyrics, poetry, and movie dialog are “easier” to remember than a page of text about the economic factors that lead to recessions. The former are things that resonate with people and form connections across more than just reading comprehension. They connect with emotion, with story, with music, with rhyme and rhythm. All of these things create additional strong links that can help prompt recall and augment the memorization and retention process.
I can recite the preamble to the U.S. constitution verbatim. I learned it as a song back in elementary school and can still recall it without mistakes 30+ years later. Now I realize that this engaged multiple senses beyond just reading some words. The video provided memorable visual cues, the song provided a rhythm for the text… Without explicitly realizing it, I was engaged in using memory techniques and it stuck. I don’t know how many times I listened to or watched that video in school, probably not more than a handful, but it stayed with me. If I had just read the words on paper, it probably would not have stuck.
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I think that kind of systems works with easy or short things.
In the past, there were people who could memorize text verbatim very quickly; it just takes practice. Robert Fludd is one example.
Memorizing text involves exercising your memory. I also know people outside this forum who memorize books using Bruno’s techniques, which are simply images and places, but it’s intense practice, that much is important… it gets easier with practice, like everything else. Poetic texts, or those that evoke images, are simpler; those that don’t are more difficult, although they can also be memorized.
Mostly, one image per sentence is used, so an image acts as an anchor for a string of five words.
To train your verbal memory, I recommend literary works like Shakespeare, for example, or others that aren’t too abstract… then move on to something more difficult.
Hi. I don’t understand how actors do that. Even plays that are for only one person and they need to know verbatim. And besides acting .
It’s simply a matter of practice, like speaking a native language; you get used to it, especially if there’s a need. Why do you think ancient memory artists could memorize vast volumes of text? Simply because books were so difficult to acquire. If they borrowed a book, they needed to memorize it. It’s not the same now, when everything is in the cloud or just a few clicks away. There isn’t as much of a need as there was in that era before the printing press.
When there’s a latent need, for example, to earn more money, to be admired, and other things that can create a certain kind of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
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