What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#21

Post by zobzu » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 4:31 AM UTC

I've a photographic memory and it's not like that.

This person is a super hero :)

Having an ultra detailed memory of every 5min event of all your life (which is what TFA basically says) sounds like a super hero, or well, you know, just plain lies and heavy embellishment... whichever.. that's ok if its a genius, too :)

(same thing for persons knowing all words of all the books they read, by earth. And that's also probably not photographic memory, unless you picture the words, anyways)

--

A photographic memory simply mean its easier for you to remember images than, say, sounds, text, etc.

The author suggests that photographic memory is about remembering something with the upmost perfection (like a "picture" represents details with the upmost perfection), regardless of this being a sound, image, text, etc...

I generally ask those ego-driven people to tell me what I showed on the screen 5min ago and they've no idea. "oh i was distracted this time" or "it doesn't work like that".

I still have to meet a true memory-genius. I'm sure they exist, but its not a very high % of the population, contrarily to what story tellers seems to say.

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#22

Post by tfb » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 4:33 AM UTC

eshvk wrote: post #7

patio11 wrote: post #4

I had a somewhat atypical memory through early high school. Long story short: I was really, really good at memorizing books without trying to, and could recall them word-for-word, with essentially random access inside the book if you spotted me two sentences to work off of. This also extended to remembering events/conversations/etc in my own life, and they often became "intrusive thoughts." Was anybody hear ever pick…

> This also extended to remembering events/conversations/etc in my own life, and they often became "intrusive thoughts." Was anybody hear ever picked on in 3rd grade? Imagine reliving that incident, in photographic detail, for no darned good reason during an 8th grade field trip. God, that sounds awful. Proustian memory [1] forever would drive me insane. Imagine every breakup you have had over the years, vividly reli…

Yeah it isn't fun at all, especially when you seem to have more bad memories than good. It can become a bit of a hindrance; but with a strong will, it can be turned around into something good.

My first few memories are of the fight my parents had the defining night of their separation; then of my grandfather carrying me away from the courthouse as I wondered why I couldn't see my father (he wouldn't pay child support); and then my mother pushing a couch against our apartment door to prevent someone from breaking in, as we couldn't afford to live in a decent neighborhood. These are my first few memories, and while they might sound pretty terrible, they've easily shaped me into the person I am today, for the better. Nearly every one of my actions is driven by my determination to live freely financially and to procreate only when I'm certain I'll be able to provide a good life for my wife and children.

I have a feeling most people here have the same outlook, and may have possibly been led to it by similar events and memories of their own.

Having a photographic memory (to any extent) can have it's drawbacks, sure, but when put to the right use, the drawbacks become incredibly insignificant, as most people would imagine. For example, if I didn't have the memory that I do, I wouldn't be able to instantly know exactly which line of code needs to be changed (and to what) to fix an obscure bug described to me by a user.

And honestly, the same could be said about any situation that isn't completely debilitating. For instance, I'm also fairly OCD with occasional Tourette's (depending on my level of anxiety), and if I wasn't, it's pretty unlikely that I'd have accomplished as many things as I have. I've accepted my obsessive nature and use it to get things done. It's how you look at things that determines their usefulness.

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#23

Post by fsck--off » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 4:39 AM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #4

I had a somewhat atypical memory through early high school. Long story short: I was really, really good at memorizing books without trying to, and could recall them word-for-word, with essentially random access inside the book if you spotted me two sentences to work off of. This also extended to remembering events/conversations/etc in my own life, and they often became "intrusive thoughts." Was anybody hear ever pick…

> I was really, really good at memorizing books without trying to, and could recall them word-for-word, with essentially random access inside the book if you spotted me two sentences to work off of.

That's interesting. When you recite a book passage, do you remember where the text was on the page, the dimensions of the book, how the book felt in your hand, where you read the book, and how good the lighting was? When I have strong recall of a text passage, I find that I'm usually able to recall those little extraneous contextual details. For this reason, I find that I remember things I read on physical paper better than things I read on a computer monitor.

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#24

Post by johnvschmitt » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 4:51 AM UTC

There is no such thing as "Photographic Memory", as we do not even have "Photographic site"

All we have for sight is: A few degrees of focus (~3-5) that we quickly jump around to get an idea of a scene, & then we (very importantly) MAP this data to an internal model.

So, when someone says, they can fill in all the details, they are doing that from an internal model, which was only partially supported by earlier sight. Much of their memory can be wrong.

More importantly, it's a huge misrepresentation to think that the human eye works like a CCD array/sensor/camera.

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#25

Post by hayksaakian » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 5:03 AM UTC

zobzu wrote: post #21

I've a photographic memory and it's not like that. This person is a super hero :) Having an ultra detailed memory of every 5min event of all your life (which is what TFA basically says) sounds like a super hero, or well, you know, just plain lies and heavy embellishment... whichever.. that's ok if its a genius, too :) (same thing for persons knowing all words of all the books they read, by earth. And that's also prob…

I was under the impression that 'photographic' meant that each detail was captured, as if it were a photograph (vs say a painting or a drawing)

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#26

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 5:04 AM UTC

fsck--off wrote: post #23

patio11 wrote: post #4

I had a somewhat atypical memory through early high school. Long story short: I was really, really good at memorizing books without trying to, and could recall them word-for-word, with essentially random access inside the book if you spotted me two sentences to work off of. This also extended to remembering events/conversations/etc in my own life, and they often became "intrusive thoughts." Was anybody hear ever pick…

> I was really, really good at memorizing books without trying to, and could recall them word-for-word, with essentially random access inside the book if you spotted me two sentences to work off of. That's interesting. When you recite a book passage, do you remember where the text was on the page, the dimensions of the book, how the book felt in your hand, where you read the book, and how good the lighting was? When…

[deleted]

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#27

Post by patio11 » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 5:11 AM UTC

fsck--off wrote: post #23

patio11 wrote: post #4

I had a somewhat atypical memory through early high school. Long story short: I was really, really good at memorizing books without trying to, and could recall them word-for-word, with essentially random access inside the book if you spotted me two sentences to work off of. This also extended to remembering events/conversations/etc in my own life, and they often became "intrusive thoughts." Was anybody hear ever pick…

> I was really, really good at memorizing books without trying to, and could recall them word-for-word, with essentially random access inside the book if you spotted me two sentences to work off of. That's interesting. When you recite a book passage, do you remember where the text was on the page, the dimensions of the book, how the book felt in your hand, where you read the book, and how good the lighting was? When…

Where the text was on the page, certainly. I'd know that I was "a subjectively short space from the bottom of the page, left hand side of the book, somewhere in the middle." I never had any external associations with books -- probably because a bomb could have gone off when I was reading and I wouldn't have noticed. (Something which my wife reliably reports has not changed.)

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#28

Post by prostoalex » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 5:13 AM UTC

"Moonwalking with Einstein" is a great book on memory and memory competitions, and actually featured an overview of people who have "photographic" memory, people who can memorize the longest sequence of numbers, and a person whose temporal memory is only 15 minutes.

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#29

Post by wmboy » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 5:29 AM UTC

zobzu wrote: post #21

I've a photographic memory and it's not like that. This person is a super hero :) Having an ultra detailed memory of every 5min event of all your life (which is what TFA basically says) sounds like a super hero, or well, you know, just plain lies and heavy embellishment... whichever.. that's ok if its a genius, too :) (same thing for persons knowing all words of all the books they read, by earth. And that's also prob…

> A photographic memory simply mean its easier for you to remember images than, say, sounds, text, etc.

I think you're mistaken http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory

Re: What Is It Like To Have a Photographic Memory?

#30

Post by lostlogin » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 5:31 AM UTC

nrmn wrote: post #12

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for me I would say yes. I know I can think of my grandmother's house and immediately smell it.

Isnt this normal? Being able to recall smells/sounds/etc from places you've been?

I have the opposite - the smell of burnt diesel and brewing (beer I assume) reminds me instantly of Edinburgh. I have lots of things that I can instantly remember the exact spot I first smelled them, but no smell memory or whatever you would call it.