Eidetic ("Photographic") Menory

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I have it and supposedly it is not uncommon for people on the autism spectrum to have it in some degree. it is not "just" having a good memory, which is often confused with eidetic memory:

Wiki Link

maybe those with your gift just have an automatic or wetware algorithmic mnemonic process going-on. you don't have to choose multiple pairing objects to help you memorize things as your brain is doing this mnemonic work on the fly without you assisting it. most folk's brains are busy filtering-out "extraneous" data and concentrating on central objects, but your brain is using this data to help you remember stuff. i hope this made sense.

I recall getting a sense that I had an endless row of filing cabinets in my brain when I was little, and when I wanted to recall something, the right cabinet slid over to me and a snapshot of the memory popped out.

Later I adjusted the concept into a holographic version like a tesseract, where the dimensions inside of my head are much larger than the physical scale of it, and I could simply form images by rotating the shape in the direction of the memory, which I later used to model physics and such.

It's very much an eidetic process, if you asked me to describe what was on the wall in the room during a conversation I had 12 years ago, as long as I can orient along the direction where that specific memory is located, I can bring it up and examine it.

you should be able to get rich off of this talent.

I use it for physics and mathematics.

What industry would this be used for becoming rich in, I wonder?

It's handy for basic shop work, if you ask me to organize a grocery store back-room, and then go front/face all the shelves and make sure everything is in the proper spot, without having to study the layout, I can just go do it, spotting things out of place immediately, and whatnot.

it seems this is a similar talent that temple grandin uses in her work designing things. so it would seem to this inumerate aspie that you could use your talent for designing things to make more money than somebody sans this talent could make. when i said "rich" i meant being able to make a good living, something which has always eluded me. so everything is "rich" to me. as far as i know, it might even make you actually rich.

I think I have this to a certain extent. I can usually take a sort of mental "snapshot" of something I'm looking at, like a scene or an event. The problem I have is that I can usually only recall it for an instant. Sometimes I can recall it as a short movie clip in my mind, but it's only a few seconds at a time, if that much. I also can't do text for some reason. I can recall the shapes of the lines and paragraphs, but without enough detail to "read" what I'm remembering.

In other words, it's pretty much useless for me.

Yeah. I can do text to an extent, if I'm really relaxed. I don't know what kind of memory I have. Mnemonics is nearly useless for me. I am taking an anatomy course, and boy do they love mnemonics. I see it as just another thing to memorize... But, if I can see where things fit in and what they are connected to, it's a bit easier.

My memory isn't eidetic, but I do seem to have more facility for certain things than most people I know. For example. I don't forget how to get to places that I have driven, and have had a couple of friends think that I'm somewhat freaky when my explanation of 'how do you know where we're going?', once they had seen that I wasn't using a map, was "I drove there once five years ago". I can just remember what it looked like last time.

I have a very photographic memory. I remember things that happened when I was 1 and a half, like it was just yesterday. Sometimes it works in my favour and sometimes it works against me. I tend to have flashbacks, because of it.

I'm a bit jealous. I'd like a better memory. Are there downsides to having Eidetic Memory?

I think the same horrors as those that apply to PTSD.

this! Only I had these 'recipe' boxes and they were filled with index cards. When I remembered something the box would show itself and the right index card would pop up with the living memory embedded like a video screen. I could see where I was (to a degree) what I was wearing, what was going on, etc. when I learned what ever it was I was remembering. I loved "Slumdog Millionaire" because they showed each memory where he got his answers to win the prize.

Merle

Yes. My father has an eidetic memory. He remembers many horrible things that happened to him. On the positive, I am sure he can remember the wonderful things that happened to him, too. He has aspie-like traits, if it's of interest.

Yes, you can recall every detail about every experience in your life...Like the time your mother was having a major break with reality and decided that spiders had laid eggs in your arm...and she needed to slice your arm open to get them out. The feel as the piece of glass she used sliced through your skin, the smell of your own blood hot and wet as it ran down your arm and dripped on your shoe, her telling you it was for your own good....and it would all be over soon.

However, you can also recall things like when your wife-to-be walked into your field of view, how the sunlight came through the skylights of the hallway, illuminating her, seeing her face light up as well, knowing that you would be able to see it for the rest of your life every morning. How that single tear formed from her opaline green eye...and ran down her cheek, how her flowers smelled, how that one strand of hair was laying across her cheek...

There are two sides to everything, and sometimes, As said best in a Dr. Who Episode "One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel"

At one time I thought everyone had this; though I 'kinda knew' (perhaps in a sublimal way) that my video has audio too, and this went way above what my comtemporaries were capable of.