How does photographic memory work

How well we remember things depends largely on how well we pay attention when material is presented. Additionally, the extent to which we replay the material in our minds and relate it to what we already know affects our ability to remember. Some people with excellent memory use elaborate techniques to help them remember. Others are able to effortlessly recall vast amounts of autobiographical information spanning most of the lifetime.

Scientists are learning more about memory by studying these people, as well as people who have very poor memory as the result of neurological injury or disease. His research explores the organization and neurological foundations of memory. Every month, we choose one reader question and get an answer from a top neuroscientist. Always been curious about something? Disclaimer: BrainFacts. It is not intended to give specific medical or other advice to patients.

Visitors interested in medical advice should consult with a physician. Ask a neuroscientist your questions about the brain. Submit a Question. A worldwide celebration of the brain that brings together scientists, families, schools, and communities during the third week in March. Join the Campaign. Most people who have exhibited truly extraordinary memories in some domain have seemed to possess them all their lives and honed them further through practice.

Various parts of the brain mature at different times, and adolescence is a major time for such changes. It's possible Mr. Gordon's ability took a big jump around his 16th birthday, but it's also possible he noticed it only then. Gordon might want to have formal testing, to see just how good his memory is and in what areas. Then we can debate the nature-nurture question from harder evidence.

This article was originally published with the title "I developed what appears to be a photographic memory when I was 16 years old. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue.

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Back to Articles. Career Success. By Danielle Doolen. Imagine you're in a big meeting. You've been preparing for months to get the slide deck perfect and your public speaking skills primed. Then your boss asks you about a metric from an email you merely glanced at in between Zoom calls three weeks ago.

You don't even break a sweat as you recite the data with ease. Everyone applauds and gives you kudos for being so well prepared. You smile coyly because little do they know you could recall the information because of your photographic memory. That's how we all envision a photographic memory would work, right? Having the ability to remember data and facts by merely taking a mental image would be a game-changing skill to add to your resume.

A photographic memory is when a person has the ability to recall images or information in extreme detail. It's believed you can remember these mental pictures in your head forever like they're stored in a filing cabinet in your mind. When you need to remember the information, you can open the file you need and recall the image and details with accuracy.

While the concept has some truth to it, there is skepticism around photographic memory the way we all know it. What we're more likely to be witnessing or experiencing when someone claims to have a photographic memory is a result of eidetic memory. The word eidetic comes from the Greek word for "visible form. People with an eidetic memory, known as eidetikers , can capture mental images momentarily in their mind's eye, but after only a few minutes, the memory changes or fades away completely.

Eidetic memory is generally not found in adults and has only been reported in a small percentage of children, often disappearing entirely as the children approach adulthood. The key difference between eidetic memory and photographic memory is the period of time in which the information is retained i. While a photographic memory may not be their claim to fame, there are many people in the spotlight who are believed to have a photographic memory.

Kim Peek, a savant and the man who inspired the film Rain Man, was able to memorize books from an early age and could recite as many as 12, books. Many say artist Leonardo Di Vinci had a photographic memory, though based on the time he was alive, there is little to confirm the claim. People have said that Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, could recite long documents and poems years after reading them.

He's not the only president who has been known to have a photographic memory. The 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, has also been said to have the ability to recall information , like speeches, faces, and names, with extreme detail. The posterior parietal cortex is the portion of the brain that controls visual memory. Our visual memory allows us to retrieve information, like mental images of people, places, and things.

For the average person, these mental images are only stored in our brain for a few seconds before being transferred to our short-term memory or forgetting it altogether.

There is little scientific evidence that supports photographic memory, and there is skepticism around eidetic memory. This skepticism was fueled by a s study by scientist Charles Stromeyer. In the study, a student named Elizabeth claimed to memorize and recall poetry in a foreign language in a single glance, but she was the only person on record to pass the test.