This is so intuitive that I am embarrassed I never thought of it myself.
Does Guinness World Records holder, Akira Haraguchi, who recited from memory the first 83,431 decimal places of pi, have a photographic memory? Do the winners of the annual US Memory Championship have photographic memories?
Alan Searlemann, a St. Lawrence University psychology professor, says no: "According to mounting evidence, it's impossible to recall images with near perfect accuracy... If [their memories] were truly 'photographic' in nature, you wouldn't expect any errors at all."
Here it is in a nutshell: if someone truly had a photographic memory, their recall would be perfect. It never is. It would be like you looking at a photograph and someone asking you to tell them what is in the photo while you are looking at it. You could do it perfectly.
Also exposing the myth of photographic memories: "People with Herculean memories tend to be adept at one specific task... a person who memorizes cards may be inept at recognizing faces."
POP QUIZ: How many decimal places of pi did Akira Haraguchi recite from memory?
If you had to look back to see, you don't have a photographic memory.
February 24, 2010
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11 comments:
Apparently I do not have a photographic memory, I couldn't remember how many decimals he recited from memory. I've never been able to learn by just seeing somthing or reading to myself. I'm more of an auditory learner. I like listening to lectures and when i do have to read, I read allowed so I can hear what I'm reading.
I, however, remembered the 83,431 decimals. I'm better as memorizing words and familiar faces, than listening. I tend to get easily distracted during lectures than if I were to study myself by book
-Tawny Straut-
I always thought I had a photographic memory, but I know it would be extremly hard to memorize 83,431 decimals. I am a visual learner, I like seeing what I am being taught, and it helps me remember if I have it right in front of me.
-Sarah Moschak
I think i disagree with this one. I think you can have photographic memory. My theory would be that the memory comes back in a photo but not perfect, maybe flashes or pieces of the photo.
Niki Pack
I have to agree with Nick to a point, cause my memory is like what he describes. If I think about something I can see it like it were a photograph, although I can't see all of the photo all the times. But that generally depends on how tired I am from studying. It really comes in handy when your not able to have some study material right in front of you. Like when trying to learn the bones of a body, not everyone own's a skeleton to study at home so I had to rely on my memory to help me study when I was not in the lab.
I know for a fact that I don't have even close to a photographic memory. On Valentine's Day at our church we played a few games. One was pictures of twelve couples wedding day that we had to look at and then answer questions about them. I got 4 out of 12 questions right! Not even close to photographic memory!
I would love to have a photographic memory. I have always heard people use the phrase but once again this was something I never looked into the definition.
photographic memories are a bit of a touchy subject because a lot of people say they have photographic memories but really they dont most likely. Its just hearing that term causes people to think that they do. However maybe i'm wrong, maybe people do remember things through photographic images.
I in no way good with a photographic memory mine is horrible. My memories are more retrieved from a smell or certain fragrance and that is what brings the pictures to me rather than thinking oh man I just seen that a minute ago....
I have horrible memory! but now that we have already talked about this I know that I can fix that, and I also know there is no such thing as a photographic memory!
I know I do not have a photographic memory and it is not because, I can not remember the pi. Although an attempt would be 83,431 that may be wrong or it maybe right. I watched a movie with Chris rock in it can't remember the name but, in this movie the way he remember the numbers to deactivate the bomb was when he initially seen the numbers your body has a memory of its own and by the accounts of his breath he was able to remember the numbers. This was a movie and this blog made me think of it...Interesting though.
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