The Study Of Eidetic Memory ( Sometimes Called Eidetic Imagery)

Eidetic Memory

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Eidetic Memory

Eidetic memory or eidetic imagery is the ability to recall a memory in tremendous detail by just seeing something for the first time. The terms photographic memory and eidetic memory are sometimes used interchangeably by people, but they are somewhat different. Eidetic memory is the perfect recall of scenarios and images that have been observed recently up to a few minutes; whereas, photographic memory is the immaculate recalling ability that stays in the memory for longer periods of time. Another difference, according to famous scholar, Annette Kujawski Taylor, is the presence and association of other sensory memories such as auditory memory that also forms a part of eidetic memory whereas photographic memory – as the name suggests – is focused only on visual aspect of memory.

Eidetic memory can be studied through observational experimentation in different individuals. A group of people will be selected and shown images for a little while. They will then be asked to describe the image in detail. Only those participants in such a study who have eidetic memory will be able to recall the image and its contents vividly. For instance, the military uses such a method as well in order to improve soldier’s memories. The training is similar to the aforementioned experiment; a soldier is seated in a dark room and exposed to images and then asked to describe them through memory alone. As the number of iterations increase, the accuracy of recall improves and the time of exposure to image shortens. This enables soldiers to dramatically improve their performance as they are trained to reproduce great detail in a split second. These experiments imply that eidetic memory is in fact a skill that can be learned with practice and rehearsal.

Eidetic memory is a phenomenon that is said to occur primarily in little children, although it is rare even among children – just 8% of children are said to have eidetic memory. One theory is that this phenomenon occurs because children are not trained enough to harness all the senses properly so one of their senses grow more than the others, allowing for a greater memory and accurate image recall. Another reason for this occurrence is that children’s brains do not have practice integrating all the data coming in from all senses so they primarily rely on one sense. As people grow older, however, they learn to use all of their senses properly and this ability of eidetic memory fades with time. According to Andrew Hudmon, a credible reason for this loss in eidetic memory with age has to do with language acquisition or some other developmental activity. Hudmon claims that learning language and communicating verbally disrupts the visual aspect of memory, leading to a decline in eidetic memory.

The major issue in scientific research for eidetic memory is that it is difficult to authentically measure. The experiment conducted by Charles Stromeyer on a woman – whom he later married – is an example of a research that invited a lot of criticism because she refused to be tested again by anyone else. Also, the subject and researcher got married so the research may have been biased. Furthermore, the methodology was questionable as well: she claimed to remember poetry in a foreign language (that she did not understand) for years after seeing it. This experiment, however, fueled debate on eidetic memory and subsequently a lot of discussion was focused on the topic. The issue of consistency is also a major constraint because a thorough, consistent research on a large enough group has not yet been executed for the purpose of discovering the existence or extent of eidetic memory.

References

Paivio, A., & Cohen, M. (1979). Eidetic imagery and cognitive abilities. Journal of Mental Imagery, 3(1-2), 53-64.

Standing, L., Conezio, J., & Haber, R. N. (1970). Perception and memory for pictures: Single-trial learning of 2500 visual stimuli. Psychonomic science, 19(2), 73-74.

Taylor, A. K. (Ed.). (2013). Encyclopedia of Human Memory [3 volumes] (Vol. 1). ABC-CLIO.