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General Science => General Science => Topic started by: neilep on 06/08/2009 11:04:20

Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 06/08/2009 11:04:20
Now then..what was I going to do ?

..ahh..yes...I was going to ask a kweschun about photographic memory !



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Is it really possible for someone to glance at a page of text and recall in every detail what they have seen ? If so...do we know how this mechanism of imprinting works ?....Can it be learned ?...has it been demonstrated as a ' savant syndrome ' ?


ewe see, I dunno..I'm a sheepy..I dunno these things !


do ewe know ?



thanks


Neil
xxxxx


Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Variola on 06/08/2009 12:34:56
Hmmmmm I remember some savants do exhibit this photographic memory like you said, I also know its been linked with Aspergers/other autistic spectrum disorders. ( we need the Beaver for that)

I'm not convinced that just glancing at something would enable someone to memorise everything, although I could be wrong. I know savants have a different way of processing the information enabling them to encode and store it more effeciently than we do.

Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: LeeE on 06/08/2009 13:59:56
Eidetic memory, or 'photographic memory' does seem to be a real phenomenon and while it has been linked with autistic spectrum disorders it doesn't seem to be exclusively so.

Have a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory)
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Chemistry4me on 07/08/2009 10:46:08
If you work hard enough, I think it can be learned.

Have a try with this: http://ababasoft.com/mnemonic/mnemonic_game01.html
It's darn hard!
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: AllenG on 07/08/2009 20:54:28
Eidetic memory is innate in chimpanzees.


In the test chimps are taught to recognize the order of the numerals from 0 to 9.
They touch the numbers on the screen in ascending order.  The real test is when they start the numbers are obscured and the chimps are still able to correctly mark all the numbers in order and with perfect accuracy with only seeing them displayed for a second or two.
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 09:59:29
Hmmmmm I remember some savants do exhibit this photographic memory like you said, I also know its been linked with Aspergers/other autistic spectrum disorders. ( we need the Beaver for that)

I'm not convinced that just glancing at something would enable someone to memorise everything, although I could be wrong. I know savants have a different way of processing the information enabling them to encode and store it more effeciently than we do.



Thanks Variola for your kind comment. I agree that a glance maybe too short a time to digest a whole page as it has dawned on me that we are restricted by our field of vision. I do wonder though if after a quick scan of the page.........in a way that takes in the image of the page rather than reading each word........... might lead to a type of photographic memory.
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 10:02:02
Eidetic memory, or 'photographic memory' does seem to be a real phenomenon and while it has been linked with autistic spectrum disorders it doesn't seem to be exclusively so.

Have a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory)

Thanks LeeE. Great link so thanks for the information.

I notice that it applies to viusal imagery. I would luff to look at a page of text and have that ability applied to it.
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 10:09:55
If you work hard enough, I think it can be learned.

Have a try with this: http://ababasoft.com/mnemonic/mnemonic_game01.html
It's darn hard!

Thanks Chemistry4me. I have in fact learned to recall 30 objects in a similar way that has been described via that link. It's good at impressing the nieces and nephews.
It's not going to help me photographically recall the 87th page of a book I might be reading though. *le sulk*

Thanks chum.
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 10:17:01
Eidetic memory is innate in chimpanzees.


In the test chimps are taught to recognize the order of the numerals from 0 to 9.
They touch the numbers on the screen in ascending order.  The real test is when they start the numbers are obscured and the chimps are still able to correctly mark all the numbers in order and with perfect accuracy with only seeing them displayed for a second or two.

Wow !..Thanks Allen..Those are klevur chimps !!...I remain jaw dropped too at that incredible ability to do that.
That is the first time that chimps have displayed a better memory than humans.
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Chemistry4me on 08/08/2009 11:07:41
Whoa really? 30 objects! That's real good stuff!
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 11:12:51
Whoa really? 30 objects! That's real good stuff!

Yep..it's like way kewl.

I get people to write down thirty objects and then after a minute I can recall each one in any order.

It's a simple when you've learned it...but impressive.
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Chemistry4me on 08/08/2009 11:15:20
So where did ewe learn it from?
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 11:51:32
So where did ewe learn it from?

This is silly !

ewe know why ?

because . I can't remember where the book I bought is !!...I just went on a hunt around the house and I can't find it anywhere..

In fact I bought two books...this is them ....13 Steps to Mentalism -Corinda & Practical Mental Magic by Theodore Annemann
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 12:03:26
I'm really pissed...they were expensive books !!
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Chemistry4me on 08/08/2009 12:28:48
Ooh... well that really sucks. But I suppose the good thing is ewe've gotten the knowledge out of them [:)]
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 08/08/2009 12:52:47
yep...that was just one exercise out of many...but ewe're right...at least I know how to memorise 30 things !...very handy when it ....erhmm....comes to...erhmm....memorising....erhmmm..thirty things !
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Karen W. on 08/08/2009 13:02:24
 
If you work hard enough, I think it can be learned.

Have a try with this: http://ababasoft.com/mnemonic/mnemonic_game01.html
It's darn hard!
This is also what I have always heard and seen demonstrated on TV shows about this subject but I always wondered about the validity.. Thanks for the link!
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Karen W. on 08/08/2009 13:24:25
Wholly Molly That is really hard to do!!! Yikes!
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Karen W. on 08/08/2009 13:30:08
Whoa really? 30 objects! That's real good stuff!

Yep..it's like way kewl.

I get people to write down thirty objects and then after a minute I can recall each one in any order.

It's a simple when you've learned it...but impressive.
If you work hard enough, I think it can be learned.

Have a try with this: http://ababasoft.com/mnemonic/mnemonic_game01.html
It's darn hard!

Thanks Chemistry4me. I have in fact learned to recall 30 objects in a similar way that has been described via that link. It's good at impressing the nieces and nephews.
It's not going to help me photographically recall the 87th page of a book I might be reading though. *le sulk*

Thanks chum.

WOW>>> That is really really cool! I will take down the books from your other post and check them out! Cool Neil!
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: John Chapman on 09/08/2009 10:21:00

I have in fact learned to recall 30 objects in a similar way that has been described via that link.


I could do that. 'Cos there's nothing wrong with my memory. Yeah, right! Halfway through the test I’d probably forget what species I am and go off to use the litter tray.

I’m not sure what photographic memory is. If someone has it are they supposed to be able to take a ‘snapshot’ of a written page and then be able to read it later at their leisure? Or is that just science fiction?

 
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Chemistry4me on 09/08/2009 10:24:28
Some of these people claim they can:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory#People_claimed_to_possess_an_eidetic_memory
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 09/08/2009 11:24:52
Stand by your beds. Beaver reporting for duty.

There have been quite a few reported cases of savants having eidetic memory but, as was stated earlier, it is not restricted to people with ASD.

I've mentioned about this before, but it's worth repeating. Many years ago, before my interest in ASD, there was a program on TV featuring autistics with special abilities. One of them was a young kid (about 12, I think) who could accurately draw buildings after looking at them for a few minutes. They took him to London to the Houses of Parliament. After a few minutes he was taken somewhere else & asked to draw the building. He got everything absolutely exact right down to the smallest detail (e.g. the number & size of crenelations around the roof). His aspect ratio was exact too.

Slightly different but worth mentioning was the young lad who could hear a piece of music & then play it on the piano. He could do it with even the hardest of classical pieces.

I have sometimes surprised myself with how well I can remember some places I've been only briefly, even after many years.

In 1974 Furst, Gardner, and Kamiya ran a quick test on 4 kids with eidetic memory & found that they had higher than normal resting baseline alpha & during the eidetic period high-amplitude occipital alpha activity occured. (Can someone tell me what the fek that means?. *raises hand "Yes, I can!") Basically, their brains were displaying activity resembling that present in the hypnogogic state. That implies that it is an ability that is inherent in most people but that very few can switch it on at will. Recent research (I'll try to find a citation or link) has shown that in autistics the brain is "wired" in an unusual way. It suggests that in eidetic autistics this pseudo-hypnogogic state is more readily accessible.

That ties in with research in 2006 at the Max Planck institute by Hahn, Mehta and Sakmann that shows that memories are transferred from the hippocampus to the cerebral cortex during sleep. The hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for short-term memory and the cerebral cortex is where our long-term memories live. This transfer can occur within a few hours to a couple of days. So, if the connections in the autistic brain between working memory (very short-term memory), the hippocampus & the cerebral cortex are somehow more efficient (and functioning whilst awake), memories will be transferred much quicker, before they have time to degrade. It may even happen instantaneously.

The brain is very good at re-wiring itself (as has been demonstrated through research on brain-damaged people) and it could be that practice could help the average person establish connections similar to those in the autistic brain.

I also seem to remember that there was a suggestion a few years ago that invisible friends have something to do with this, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was all about. I'll have a womble around & see if I can find anything.

Aren't you glad TNS has a resident beaver? hehe
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: Karen W. on 10/08/2009 06:30:24
Thanks Doc and yes we are!
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 10/08/2009 12:12:45
Gosh..DoctorBeave is very klevur and knows lots of klevur stuff.

Thank ewe for your very informative & fascinating post.

I for one am shaking with elation that TNS has a resident beaver.
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 10/08/2009 12:16:50
You daft sod  [;D]
Title: Photographic Memory ! Fact or Fiction ?
Post by: neilep on 10/08/2009 13:19:41
....but I'm so happy being a sod !!..Ignorance brings so much bliss   [;)]