Uyeda 1

Josh Uyeda
English 11
Oberg
February 27, 2015
The Power of Photographic Memory
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to remember anything you ever wanted at
the mere thought of it? The ability to mentally recreate a scene of your life, the favorite piece of
a vacation, the first sunset you ever saw, or even the words written on a poster you saw on a bus
as it drove past, is the reality 2-10 percent of people must face every day. (Wikipedia
Eidetic_Memory). The term that we coin such abilities is photographic memory; this is also
sometimes referred to as eidetic memory. The term eidetic memory, which is uncommonly used
compared to the term photographic memory, is a term used to describe extraordinary memory.
Eidetic images are senses that allow the person to vividly reimagine everything that they
experienced. However, eidetic images are very easily distorted since the memories are based off
of the persons senses and can alter the memory. This makes eidetic memories somewhat
unreliable when looking for exact details, since everyone experiences things in different ways.
On the other side, photographic memory is a persons ability to remember a scene or event with
perfect accuracy, just like a photograph as implied by the name. Photographic memory differs
from eidetic memory since someone with photographic memory cannot remember senses they
experienced. This is the reason why the actual existence of photographic memory is questionable
since it is practically impossible to measure accurately due to the fact that photographic
memories occur unconsciously. There are a few incredibly rare cases where photographic
memory is the only plausible explanation for the persons ability to remember. For example,

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there was a case where a woman, was given a test to remember a series of 10,000 dots and recall
the pattern with 100% accuracy. (serendip.brynmawr)
Other cases where people claim to have photographic memory stretch the definition of it.
When the acclaimed photographic memory users took a test and were asked to recite back the
information, nearly all of them replied with 100% accuracy. However, when asked again in a few
days, hardly any of them remembered which means they really dont have the memory they
claim to have. Yet another reason why the existence of photographic memory is questioned since
most people can employ the use of mental maps and mnemonic devices to give the illusion of
photographic memory.
The existence of photographic memory is really a way for us to define a persons
excellent memory and does not actually follow the definition as implied by the name. Rather that
the people who have photographic memory really dont remember everything but employ use
of various mnemonic to give an illusion of perfect memory. In reality, photographic memory is
really just extraordinary memory and they really dont remember everything, but instead
remember only the important things that stay imprinted in their mind. Also there is no possible
way for us to measure memory on a living person, physically and ethically, so this is another
reason that we can conclude that photographic memory does not exist.
So in the end, if someone says that they have photographic memory, they really are
stretching the meaning of the term and that they are probably have a detailed script they follow
to make you fall for the illusion.

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Photographic Memory and Eidetic Memory. serendip.brynmawr. Serendip Studio, n.d.

http://www.serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/7381

Eidetic Memory Wikipedia, Wikipedia, 9 March 2015

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