Can you develop a photographic memory?

[Doofenschmirtz]

This has probably been asked already, but can you develop a photographic or near photographic memory?

I watched Dr. Mike's YouTube video (I think it's his latest one but it's about his journey and how he became a doc, and I'm talking about the famous instagram doctor), and in it, he mentioned that his dad made him memorize his social studies book and recite it back to him such that he soon developed a near photographic memory. ( - it's somewhere in this video, I believe the first half).

I haven't done research on this, and I may be putting a drastic spin on this, but is it possible to develop a photographic memory by super rigorous memorization/discipline? Such that this type of learning formed when young it could improve your ability to have some type of photographic memory later? I'm not trying to refute anything in that video, just curious about photographic/ near photographic memories in general lol

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[altblue]

Or maybe his brain grew at the same time and he developed the photographic memory he had been genetically disposed to

Don't get me wrong you can improve your memory a fair amount through practice but it's hard to go from the 50th percentile to the 99.9th

 

[de Ribas]

This has probably been asked already, but can you develop a photographic or near photographic memory?

I watched Dr. Mike's YouTube video (I think it's his latest one but it's about his journey and how he became a doc, and I'm talking about the famous instagram doctor), and in it, he mentioned that his dad made him memorize his social studies book and recite it back to him such that he soon developed a near photographic memory. ( - it's somewhere in this video, I believe the first half).

I haven't done research on this, and I may be putting a drastic spin on this, but is it possible to develop a photographic memory by super rigorous memorization/discipline? Such that this type of learning formed when young it could improve your ability to have some type of photographic memory later? I'm not trying to refute anything in that video, just curious about photographic/ near photographic memories in general lol

is he on SDN?

 

[CyrilFiggis]

is he on SDN?

yeah on the pre-DO page.

 

[Piglet2020]

You probably could but the time spent developing this could be better spent studying for the MCAT, in terms of practice exams.

I wouldn’t say I have photographic memory but my memory is pretty good. I find bio related subjects easy b/c I can visualize diagrams/what the textbook says. I have picture memory that comes and goes like camera flashes. On exams, I would recall info this way but the image in my head eventually fades away after recall of 4-5 seconds. You could probably develop your memory better by improving recall retention techniques.

 

[Mad Jack]

Photographic memory isn't a real thing, so no, you can't develop it. You can improve the techniques you use to learn though.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Photographic memory isn't a real thing, so no, you can't develop it. You can improve the techniques you use to learn though.

Are you so sure???

Scientists study child with super memory

 

[Mad Jack]

Are you so sure???

Scientists study child with super memory

There's No Such Thing As a Photographic Memory

As to that child- children very often have stronger memory capacities than adults, but they invariably fade in adolescence and adulthood. There have been zero documented cases of adults with truly photographic memory in the literature, and every supposed claim that has been thoroughly investigated has been found to be false, usually a mix of major details and confabulation that have the appearance of perfect recollection but were riddled with inaccuracies.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

There's No Such Thing As a Photographic Memory

As to that child- children very often have stronger memory capacities than adults, but they invariably fade in adolescence and adulthood. There have been zero documented cases of adults with truly photographic memory in the literature, and every supposed claim that has been thoroughly investigated has been found to be false, usually a mix of major details and confabulation that have the appearance of perfect recollection but were riddled with inaccuracies.

That's fair. More studies are being done, I gather.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

My parents used to play visual memory games with their children and grandchildren when they all were very young. I continued with my own children. Games like, "Concentration," where starting with maybe 3 or 4 pairs of cards, face down, and having the young child find/remember matches...and adding more pairs as the child ages. Or, putting a tray out with many small things for say 30 seconds, and then covering it up and the child has to recall as many items he can. Or putting the tray out, then secretly removing an item or two, and then the child has to say what item(s) was/were removed. On car trips, we'd also play memory games. I think all of this improves memory and observation skills.

JMHO, but I think that when brains are young, some memory improvements can more easily be developed. Perhaps also possible with older children or adults but probably not with as much success? I've seen adults play "blind chess" but I don't know if they started as young children or adults. Seems like that would also improve memory.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

I guess that's why young children pick up languages so easily while my undergrad French courses now amounted to nothing more than remembering Bon jour and Au revoir...

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

There's No Such Thing As a Photographic Memory

As to that child- children very often have stronger memory capacities than adults, but they invariably fade in adolescence and adulthood. There have been zero documented cases of adults with truly photographic memory in the literature, and every supposed claim that has been thoroughly investigated has been found to be false, usually a mix of major details and confabulation that have the appearance of perfect recollection but were riddled with inaccuracies.

While truly photographic memory isn’t really a thing, remembering things using vivid imagery is. If you let me look at something for a minute or two, I can essentially draw it into my memory and look at it again later. Obviously, it’s not perfect recall, and they fade with time (although the more the memory is already an image, the longer it lasts). I don’t call that photographic or eidetic, because it isn’t. But some people may conflate photographic memory with using vivid imagery.

 

[DBC03]

If you’re really interested in memory, you should read Moonwalking With Einstein - it’s a humorous story about competing in the world memory competition with research on memory interwoven throughout. Short story: our visual memory is significantly better than other types of memory and you can take advantage of this by training yourself. BUT - I believe the consensus is there’s no truly photographic memory.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If you’re really interested in memory, you should read Moonwalking With Einstein - it’s a humorous story about competing in the world memory competition with research on memory interwoven throughout. Short story: our visual memory is significantly better than other types of memory and you can take advantage of this by training yourself. BUT - I believe the consensus is there’s no truly photographic memory.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile

That’s a great book. It really works. With some practice (like a day), I was able to memorize fairly large lists of random words. I don’t really use it for school because I find it inefficient for a lot of things. It would work well for reactions and stuff though.

 

[psychgirl95]

Are you so sure???

Scientists study child with super memory

Eidetic memory/imagery is real in children (which is what Mad Jack described), but it disappears near puberty. It sounds like that kid probably has hyperthymesia, which is different from eidetic memory. Nonetheless, it’s still a pretty cool ability. I actually grew up with my mother proclaiming that she, my brother, and I all had “photographic memories,” but in reality I think we’re all just highly visual learners. If I can see something, then I’ve got it and can recall it during an exam.

Can you develop superior visual memory abilities if you’re not a visual learner? It’s probably possible - maybe check out something like Lumosity? I’ve been using it for a year for recovery from a pituitary tumor and I have seen an increase in some areas that I’m pretty terrible in.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If I can see something, then I’ve got it and can recall it during an exam.

Same here, though I don’t know anyone in my family who is this way. It bothered my wife when we first were dating/engaged, because we’d walk into restaurant for only the second time like months and months after the first visit, and I’d be like oh she was our waitress last time we were here.

She’d be like oh, you remember the waitress? And I’d be like yeah, I remember pretty much everyone I see for more than a couple seconds.

 

[deleted862527]

This has probably been asked already, but can you develop a photographic or near photographic memory?

I watched Dr. Mike's YouTube video (I think it's his latest one but it's about his journey and how he became a doc, and I'm talking about the famous instagram doctor), and in it, he mentioned that his dad made him memorize his social studies book and recite it back to him such that he soon developed a near photographic memory. ( - it's somewhere in this video, I believe the first half).

I haven't done research on this, and I may be putting a drastic spin on this, but is it possible to develop a photographic memory by super rigorous memorization/discipline? Such that this type of learning formed when young it could improve your ability to have some type of photographic memory later? I'm not trying to refute anything in that video, just curious about photographic/ near photographic memories in general lol

I have a photographic memory. I did the same thing Dr. Mike did during my middle school and high school years---and it worked great. I would recall sentence verbatim of multiple chapters, but it wasn't easy. There were times where I would memorize everything for a whole exam the night before and do well on it (not getting an A, more around a B to B+ range) and I was ok with that. I remember vividly recalling the page, what diagrams/photos were on the page, etc. Other classmates of mine used to test me on it, but it's what worked well for me.

In College, there was A LOT more material I was held responsible for and memorizing verbatim wouldn't cut it. Instead, I did mind mapping techniques as well as viewing the content as a story to be told. For example, the chapter would be a story/event. The definitions in that chapter were characters, and the relationships they had in in the chapter were the events that occurred in the story. Additionally, actually LEARNING the material and not 100% memorizing verbatim had me ace every exam of my freshman and sophomore year, and it got easier with time. I now have a 3.94 GPA (B+ in stupid writing. What a joke of a class).

Find what works for you. When I was younger (I am talking elementary years) I was the worst student possible. I believe I had some type of developmental delay, as I was born 7 months premature---learning really felt impossible. I was put in almost every 'special needs' class---even for speaking because I had difficulties learning how to communicate and talk.

Adolescence came, I eventually grew out of that 'funk' phase, and have been doing extremely well since. My parents question what the hell happened and so have I, but I developed my own theory of how I had a developmental delay. I personally find flash cards an absolute waste of time, as that is preparing you for only memorization and not learning it so you can build on subsequent concepts.

I hope this helps. We're all different.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I have a photographic memory. I did the same thing Dr. Mike did during my middle school and high school years---and it worked great. I would recall sentence verbatim of multiple chapters, but it wasn't easy. There were times where I would memorize everything for a whole exam the night before and do well on it (not getting an A, more around a B to B+ range) and I was ok with that. I remember vividly recalling the page, what diagrams/photos were on the page, etc. Other classmates of mine used to test me on it, but it's what worked well for me.

In College, there was A LOT more material I was held responsible for and memorizing verbatim wouldn't cut it. Instead, I did mind mapping techniques as well as viewing the content as a story to be told. For example, the chapter would be a story/event. The definitions in that chapter were characters, and the relationships they had in in the chapter were the events that occurred in the story. Additionally, actually LEARNING the material and not 100% memorizing verbatim had me ace every exam of my freshman and sophomore year, and it got easier with time. I now have a 3.94 GPA (B+ in stupid writing. What a joke of a class).

Find what works for you. When I was younger (I am talking elementary years) I was the worst student possible. I believe I had some type of developmental delay, as I was born 7 months premature---learning really felt impossible. I was put in almost every 'special needs' class---even for speaking because I had difficulties learning how to communicate and talk.

Adolescence came, I eventually grew out of that 'funk' phase, and have been doing extremely well since. My parents question what the hell happened and so have I, but I developed my own theory of how I had a developmental delay. I personally find flash cards an absolute waste of time, as that is preparing you for only memorization and not learning it so you can build on subsequent concepts.

I hope this helps. We're all different.

That’s not photographic memory. That’s a visual memory. They are different. Photographic recall doesn’t exist except in movies.

Edit: stupid autocorrect