![]() In 1970, the scientist Charles Stromeyer published the results of a study he had conducted on a Harvard student named Elizabeth. The wonder woman and the ultimate photographic memory test Does or did any such person ever exist? The world’s gathered science says no. You could argue that anything less than that is nothing else than “a very good memory”. I believe that most people’s image of someone with an actual photographic memory is that this person can look at, say, a painting or a page of scribbles and instantly store a photocopy of it in his or her head. The word photographic indicates something more. If that was it, they would just be described as having excellent memories. This could be achieved by someone very interested in a subject or with just an extraordinarily good memory, but note that this is not what is being said. The stories are commonly about people who only had to read through the books in school once and then aced every test. When people talk to me about ‘photographic memory’, the latter definition is always what they have in mind. Here it is not a question of being able to win a game of ‘Look at these ten things, look away, look back, which one have I removed?’ But preferably something much more useful: To have the ability to store detailed mental pictures of text-book pages for not only minutes but weeks and years. On the other hand, we have what also in science is called a photographic memory, which seems to be more in accordance with what we usually associate with the concept. However, this “mental image” is not perfect and seems to fade away after at most four minutes. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, this means that a small percentage of children can be shown an image for about 30 seconds and immediately afterward describe it in great detail. On the one hand, we have eidetic memory, which is a phenomenon that has been confirmed to exist, at least among young children. Firstly, there appears to exist two distinct terms related to this kind of memory. There are a bunch of interesting things to observe here. When you search for ‘photographic memory’ on Wikipedia, you are redirected to a page called ‘Eidetic memory’ that states the following: It is necessary to determine the truth in the matter. To figure this mystery out, let us start with defining what we mean when we say that someone has a photographic memory. (Or actually, one single study does exist, but more about that in a little bit…) Still, there does not exist a single study confirming anyone having a photographic memory. ![]() In that case, it appears, it would have to be one of the most entrenched and deep myths of modern society. Since this trait seems so very common, it might seem absurd to claim that it is all a myth. At least once a month, I find myself speaking with someone after a memory lecture who claims that his or her partner’s cousin or classmate’s nephew or friend’s friend ‘ actually has photographic memory’. Not because they think that they have a photographic memory themselves but because they for sure know at least a few people with this much sought-after ability. Most people reading the headline to this article might feel that the answer must be ‘yes’. Does photographic memory exist? The short answer is no.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |