Eidetic memory

Photographic memory, eidetic memory, or total recall, is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume.

It is said that many famous artists and composers, like Claude Monet and Mozart, possibly had eidetic memory. However, Dr. Marvin Minsky, in his book The Society of Mind, claims to have been unable to verify claims of eidetic memory (see sections 15.3 & 15.6) and considers reports of eidetic memory to be an "unfounded myth".

The Guinness Book of Records nevertheless lists people with extraordinary memories. For example, Hideaki Tomoyori correctly recited the first 40,000 decimals of pi in March 1987, and on November 3, 1994, Tom Groves memorized the order of cards in a randomly shuffled 52-card deck in 42.01 seconds.

Mathematician John von Neumann is said to have had total recall.

There have been some cases where young children have demonstrated the ability to focus on a picture and then recall it with perfect clarity minutes later. However, these skills are usually lost as they grow older.

Many believe that autistics frequently display this ability, as well as those with similar conditions like Asperger's syndrome.

Autistic savants are a rarity but they, in particular, show signs of spectacular memory; one notable example is Kim Peek, who can recall about 9600 books from memory.

Eidetic memory in fiction

This is a partial list (fictional characters with eidetic memory appear in parentheses):

See also

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