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Photographic MemoryThe scientific term

Eidetic memoryis an ability to recall images, sounds, or objects inmemoryafter only a few instances of exposure, with high precision for some time after exposure.Eidetic memory is the ability to recall visual information, such as pages from books, magazines, and license plate numbers, in great detail after only brief exposure to it.The popular culture concept of "photographic memory," where someone can briefly look at a page of text and then recite it perfectly from memory, is not the same as seeing eidetic images, and photographic memory has never been demonstrated to exist. 2

3Very rareOnly one well described case:S (Solomon Shereshevsky, Russian journalist)Could recall speeches verbatimEven the languages he didnt know if S. heard noise while imaging he would see "puffs of steam" or "splashes" on the imageconverted auditory to visual experience, tones to colorstake the number 1. This is a proud, well-built man; 2 is a high-spirited woman; 3 a gloomy person; 6 a man with a swollen foot; 7 a man with a moustache; 8 a very stout womana sack within a sack. As for the number 87, what I see is a fat woman and a man twirling his moustache

A small experimentLook at the following picture for 10 sec

Now Answer these questions What was the name of the man in the right hand corner? What colour hair does Ashley have? Is the colour of Andy's hair brown or black? How many names are shown in this picture? How many people are up in the picture?

Answers Matt Red black 4 9We conducted the same experiment in different age groups10 children from the age group 7-1010 from 10-1510 from 15-2010 from 20-22Mostly in preadolescent kids and very rare in adults

Like other memories, they are often subject to unintended alterations usually because of outside influences (such as the way an adult may present a query about a memory). If the ability is not nurtured it usually begins to fade after the age of 6, perhaps as growing verbal skills alter the memory process10Flashbulb MemoriesAccording to Brown and Kulik, 1977Highly accurate and exceptionally vivid memory when learning about a shocking event.Episodic Memories that are highly resistant to forgetting due to the emotional arousal at the moment of the encoding.Flashbulb Memory registers like a photographTypical flashbulb events are dramatic, unexpected, shockingE.g. disasters, deaths of prominent figures (esp. if unexpected), momentous eventsWorld Trade CentreKennedy, Princess DianaFall of Berlin Wall 11Experiments and ConclusionsBrown and Kulik conducted an experiment to determine whether shocking event are recalled more vividly and accurately than normal eventsParticipants had vivid memories about where they were, what they were doing and how they felt about the event.Neissar and harsh in 1992 carried out a similar experiment but in two phasesOne immediately (24 hours) after the event 2.5 years laterAccuracy of the details ---2.95Confidence level --- 4.17Flashbulb memories not as accurate. They feel accurate (we are confident in recall) but are just as prone to forgetting & change as other episodic memories

Got it? Check this outhttp://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/psychology/take-the-photographic-memory-test

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