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My name is Rhys, a first time dad blogging about my adventures and experiences of being a parent. [email protected]

Eidetic Memory VS Photographic Memory: What Is The Fundamental Difference

Each person has several types of memory. Before you look for training, you need to understand what kind of memory you need to improve. Most of the problems arise when determining eidetic memory VS photographic memory. If you can understand the meaning of their definitions, then training will be more effective.

Difference Between Eidetic And Photographic Memory

To understand the difference between eidetic memory VS photographic memory, it is worth looking at the definitions of these concepts.

Photographic Memory

Photographic memory is a unique kind of long-term memory. It allows you to remember documents or events accurately as if a photograph was taken. This phenomenon is indeed infrequent, and it is assumed that only a few people in history had such a good memory:

  • Nikola Tesla;
  • Theodore Roosevelt;
  • Sergei Rachmaninov;
  • Julius Caesar;
  • Napoleon Bonaparte and some others.

Each of these thinkers has achieved excellent results in their field. In many ways, photographic memory allowed them to create such a dizzying career.

This type of memory is assumed to be innate, and it is practically impossible to develop it artificially. However, you can improve your memory level as much as possible to get as close as possible to these famous people.

Some people often confuse photographic memory with Hyperthymesia. People can remember all their biographical data. So, a person can verbatim retell a conversation that happened several years ago or make a sequence of events as accurately as possible. The difference is that photographic memory only remembers images, while Hyperthymesia remembers images, sounds, and smells. However, a person with this trait cannot memorize books or documents.

In general, if you dream of getting a photographic memory, there are now several methods that promise to help you achieve good results, but they have not yet been found to confirm their effectiveness.

Eidetic Memory

Eidetic memory is a type of short-term memory. When you close your eyes, you can visualize the picture you just saw. However, each image’s playback time is different – from 2 to 15 seconds. Further, the image begins to blur and disappears altogether.

A person with an excellent eidetic memory can reproduce an image for a long time and do it with full detail. The clearer the picture you see, the better. This type of memorization makes it easier to solve everyday problems or work with statistical information.

Eidetic memory can be developed. Today, mobile applications allow you to improve the state of memory as quickly as possible. It will also help to create a memory palace.

The concept is to take a memory test before training, then use the mobile app every day for a few minutes. Then you can follow the dynamics.

In addition, if you want to get the result faster, you can conduct additional workouts. So, you can admire beautiful cityscapes, and then try to reproduce them in your mind after some time, for example, before going to bed. Learning can include reading books, solving puzzles, and even small flashcard exercises. It would be best if you exercised before bed. During this period, we are more relaxed, and that part of the brain responsible for imaginative thinking wakes us up.

Do not expect that training gives results after the first time. It usually takes a few weeks to get the effect. If you skip workouts, you will notice how you step back. It is important to remember that the main thing is dynamics.

Conclusion

Eidetic memory VS photographic memory is two completely different things. The first case is a type of short-term memory that can be trained, developed, and improved. And in the second case, this is an innate gift that nature gives to a person; it is almost impossible to create artificially.

However, if you can develop an eidetic memory, your life will become much more manageable. For example, you can easily cope with everyday worries or problems at work and learn to control short-term memory.