Is it possible to develop a photographic memory?

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Well, I know I have seen this repeated a LOT, but one site says: "eidetic memory, which occurs in between 2 and 15 percent of children and very rarely in adults.". SO, SUPPOSEDLY, people lose the ability over time.

The substance of the article, however, is that photographic memory doesn't exist. I feel that, to say such a thing, is HOGWASH! My memory may be far from perfect, but I HAVE seen complex tasks and information that I immediately absorbed and remember to this very moment. OK, maybe it isn't photographic in the strictest sense but, from a practical standpoint, it is every bit as good. It would be the ultimate in hubris to feel that nobody is as good as I am, in this respect. If someone is as good as I am, perhaps some are better. Who is to say that there aren't some that can do such a thing with great ease and reliability.

I don't have photographic memory, persay, but when I read something, like a book, or a forum post, the content sticks with me. It does it a lot better with books though. I can recall and express what I read, remember and recite. I have great memory for that, but stuff like phone conversations fly right out of my head if I'm doing something else at the same time.

Well, I've slowly developed perfect pitch. And, more to the point of the OP, if I deliberately engage a strong emotion in the attempt of recalling a memory, I can mentally see, just like an actual photograph, the memory. (Which is weird for me, because I'm an audio learner, and don't easily visually picture things in my mind beyond simple geometric shapes.) Like, I'll picture a desk or bookshelf I had a long time ago, and then I'll think, "Wow, I forgot it had those types of legs on it, until literally seeing it in my mind just now", or "I forgot that wood was chipped like that on the corner until just now picturing it." It's kind of creepy, because in that moment of recall, I literally feel like I'm there again. I no longer feel I am in the present, which is emotionally very disorienting. My whole "emotional profile" of that past time is recalled, along with the images I'm trying to see, and that whole original emotional profile is momentarily superimposed upon my present mind -- totally. So, I don't try that type of recall very often, because it's unsettling.

The pictures I get are VERY vivid, but I've never tried to recall something more difficult -- like a page of written information, seeing it line by line. I don't think I could do that. Not to say that ability couldn't be learned. I've become a firm believer in the elasticity of mental abilities. The whole conventional notion of things you're either born with or have no chance of developing seems pretty false. The whole "Your IQ stays the same since you're born" -- I'm not buying that. (And ya, I know that's now in dispute anyway. But I never believed it.) For instance, as I mentioned in my first sentence, I used to try to mentally "hear" which note a song I knew would start on, but I'd get it wrong all the time. But now, after years of intensely focusing on music while listening, I can accurately mentally hear the exact note that a song will start on, and be totally sure of it before testing myself. Sometimes I have to "feel around", mentally trying 2 or 3 different pitches, until one just "feels right". And I'm now correct 95% of the time! My dad swore that perfect pitch could not be learned -- that is, being able to hum or sing a specific note like "A" upon request. But, I proved him wrong! Some people can learn supposedly-inborne skills, with enough practice.

So, don't give up if that's what you're trying to do!

Because one can't turn it off again... have you ever noticed how much sick stuff is in the world, and on the internet? Imagine remembering every single thing you have ever seen, and having no way of getting it out of your head again

Well, I don't have a photographic memory, but I remember a LOT of stuff I wish never happened. Some is scary, some embarassing, some wrong, etc... But, frankly, some of that wouldn't have happened, and some things would be a LOT better if I had a photographic memory.

Well I'm not sure exactly what makes a photographic memory a photographic memory but all I remember was that my mind made a sudden noticeable change in the way it worked that is difficult to describe. It didn't stick but it was like a flash of having a different learning style.

They discovered that people who have been brutally and horrobly tramatize again and again, to the point of compartmentalized disasosiative personalities, that some how they developed Photographic memory as a "side effect".

Kind of a high price to pay to recall an entire book word for word.

I can say that I have a pretty good memory. Though I wouldn't say photographic. (Though as an artist it would be a fantastic ability.) I can pretty much remember nearly all the pictures that come in and out of the store. When ever a person is looking for a print, all that they have to do is tell me what it looks like (to the best of there ability) and I can tell them exactly where it will be. It's very usefull to have in my kind of work!

Maybe I should test myself and try to draw one of the many prints at work from memory.....I think I'll try that next time!

Why develop it when you already have it?

BTW, your sig piccy scares the bejesus out of me.

I have a good memory for things I have read. I don't believe I have a photographic memory, but I do have good recall abilities.

I have near photographic memory for images and can recall the book and magazine in which I saw them and often how far through the publication they were located. Also have a great visual recall for objects. I've always had this ability. I might have developed the deep memory because I have a deficiency in working memory. You know, when one area is deficient another compensates.

Z

I suppose you can improve your visual memory a lot, because you sure can loose your photographic memory. Not entirely I'd guess, but it can get worse. When I was young, all these images would just remain in my memory and I could draw them and describe them whenever I want to, book pages, tables, areas.

The more my ability to socially interact improved (and it did a lot to say so), the more I lost from that photographic memory. I still don't need a and I can still describe pages and papers better than my peers, but to remember has become noticeably harder since my teens. I tend to oversee details now, it was scary when I first noticed.

Everything comes for a price. At least it did for me.

Photographic memory along other things or understanding of social ongoings and the ability to participate, but never both at the same time. It may depend on how severe/good one is on which areas too.