The capability of recalling events from the past, in fine detail, sounds extremely beneficial. Being able to recall every answer on a test such as an SAT would assure one of passing grades throughout their lives. Those who have eidetic or photographic memory may find they possess the capability of remembering images they have seen, this includes answers to questions, sounds they have heard, scents they have smelled, and all types of sensory details acutely and accurately. These strong memories are produced simply by looking at the object, hearing the sound, or smelling that scent for a period of time, then retaining it in great detail. Many who have this gift have also been classified as autistic or have some other disorder such as asperger syndrome. Autistic savants, while rare, do have the capability of retaining fine details in their memory which tend to rely on what is termed as calendrical calculations or calculations based on calendar dates. This applies to counting days between specific dates and is considered to be applied mathematics.
The ability to recall, usually in fine descriptive detail such as clothing and background, memories from ones past is called hyperthymesitic syndrome or hyperthymesia. This refers to a form of autobiographical memory that gives some people an ability to remember very specific events from their own past personal experiences. These memories include greatly detailed events that may have occurred while someone was very young, something most of us simply cannot accomplish. “Thymesia” comes from the Greek word for memory which is “thymesis”.
People who have this autobiographical type of photographic memory tend to spend inordinate amounts of their time dwelling on their past and have the capacity to recall very specific events or details such as the weather, date, and even what people were wearing on a certain day from their past. The memories they recall strongly tend to be from some type of mental calendar which may even be classified as obsessive.
Movies such as “Rainman”, while filled with inaccuracies, do give a vivid example of someone who possesses calendrical calculations as well as amazing mathematical abilities. He could recite the telephone directory simply by reading through it once, count cards by recalling how many face cards were left in five or six decks of cards while playing Blackjack, as well as give an accurate count of just how many toothpicks fell on the ground from a nearly full box. These scenes took dramatic exception to make the movie enjoyable but there are people who have been proven to have similar capabilities.
Those who possess an extremely strong sense of memory tend to be very specific when it comes to what they are best at. Some tend to favor details in peoples clothing on specific dates, while others recall the weather and how hot or cold, whether the sun was shining or it was cloudy, and other quite specific details that the average person loses over time. These generally tend to be sporadic rather than deliberately recalled. Having a photographic memory can be considered a double edged sword because sometimes very specific memories are present while others tend to be sad, upsetting, or even fearful.

Conceding that people literally cannot develop or acquire photographic memories no matter how much they practice, Diane Dale, who coaches emerging executives in leadership skills, stress the importance of (nearly) photographic memory. Trained in the mechanics of memory, Dale agrees that an analogy with photography effectively describes how memory works. “If you understand how memory works, then you can learn how to train it, developing almost perfect recall of any object, person, text, or situation,” Dale insists. She teaches her young executives how to make their minds imitate cameras so that they develop their recall and use it to their advantage in business situations.

Working the analogy, Dale challenges her executives to study a picture of an ordinary person for ten seconds. Then, obscuring the picture, she asks her workshop participants to describe the person, listening as they struggle to present accurate depictions of what they say. On a second attempt, Dale tells participants to follow the operations of a camera, first isolating a center of interest and then focusing and filling-in details around that center of interest. She skillfully guides them through the process; and, naturally, their results improve.

Center and Resolve—Dale reminds participants every object, text, and situation has a natural center of interest; and interest naturally gravitates to that which intellect and experience dictate are most important. Our intuition and instinct instruct us to assign importance to everything that affects our survival and performance, and those half-conscious psychic registers are as close to infallible as anything human ever can be.

Frame and Clarify—Dale explains to participants how cutting away all the extraneous details, perception locks on the center of interest and accumulates details according to instinct’s and intuition’s determination of the details that matter. Examining a picture of an ordinary person, untrained observers will clarify details first about eyes and hair, then about nose and mouth. Without training and encouragement, attention may glance off the shape of the person’s face, the width of his or her shoulders, and other details that would enable an observer to choose the person from a line-up.

Zoom in and focus—Perception and instinct naturally will direct your attention to a person’s most prominent features, the ones that distinguish him or her from everyone else. Even an “ordinary” person has distinctive traits and attributes, which you should use to define the person, filling in details around them. Zoom in on the most prominent features, focusing on them and then arranging the most important details. Keep filling-in details as they become important, looking for unique or unusual attributes as you focus. Look especially for qualities your intuition says most people will miss, because the unusual stuff creates the impression your memory is photographic and therefore more credible.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Once you have a clear picture in your mind’s eye, conjure and describe it as often as you can. Question yourself about it, and invite others to question and cross-examine you, too. Accurate recall absolutely depends on repetition. So that you should capitalize on every opportunity to repeat, sophisticate, and refine your facts, descriptions, and unique observations. The more details you offer, the more precise and believable your description becomes. This precise attention to detail also inspires people’s belief in your photographic memory.

Cognitive psychologists emphasize the downside of “photographic” memory, stressing that the majority of people who actually have perfect recall of images, situations, objects, and texts they observe often have little or no analytic capacity, and they frequently struggle to connect or contextualize the information they collect. In many cases, people with photographic memory cannot control it, because it seems contingent on the quality of the stimulus: only certain kinds of triggers will prompt complete recall.

On the other hand, just about everyone wants to cultivate his or her memory as if it were photographic. People often complain of their struggles to remember important details of conversations, important points in meetings and classes. Students frequently lament their inability to memorize bodies of fact, or they realize they can memorize complex bodies of fact for the sake of testing, but they cannot maintain the information in long-term memory.

This eBook will help you develop a photographic memory:

Selective memory is a good thing.
Your brain naturally processes and retains information from the senses and imagination. In fact, in most cases, your body cannot discern the difference between a real experience and an imaginary one, so that you may remember your dreams more vividly than you remember yesterday’s lunch. Your body also remembers how it practices, so that you perform in competition as you play in practice. The more you practice perfectly, the more perfection will become your norm.

Your brain collects and stores information critical to your survival and success, and your “intuition” frequently guides memory more accurately than your intellect. If you ever have cursed yourself in the middle of a test, saying, “I had a feeling that would be on the mid-term; why didn’t I trust that feeling?” you know the phenomenon. If your brain did not sort all the stimuli, determining the relative importance of different ideas and events, you would feel overwhelmed, disoriented, and paralyzed. You take in millions of sensory stimuli every second, and you cannot, should not, could not recall even 2% of them. You recall the data that matters; experience and emotion guide you to discovery of what matters.

Develop your memory of important facts and revealing details.
Therefore, when you express your wish to develop photographic memory, you more properly express a compelling desire to build greater command of important information. You cultivate the “photographic” element by learning to visualize abstract information as if it were concrete enough you might stub your toe on it. If your professor tells you that Abe Lincoln delivered “The Gettysburg Address” on November 19, 1863, picture Lincoln holding the scrap of paper on which he penned it, and picture the heading “11/19/1863.” Conjure the image in your mind’s eye and repeat the information—11…19…1863. Holding the image of Abe with his notes clearly in mind, repeat again—aloud—“11/19/1863.” Have your friends and family quiz you, developing the habit of conjuring the image whenever you hear the question, “When did Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg address?”

Using this technique that links the question to the image that delivers the answer, you guarantee you will not forget in the day of the test.

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