Photographic memory

[rabbidrabbit]

Question, mainly for Bernhard - how does one develop a photographic memory? (I'm hoping for one of his long, numbered posts giving book recommendations etc)

[Siberian Husky]

Ehh im not so sure you can develope this..but i know i attribute this "photographic memory" you speak of...when i learn new music..i only go over the music less than  a hand full of times..i had the complete 545K mozart sonata first movement memorized before i could play the first page correctly..therefore as i learned it i didnt need the sheetmusic so during school practicing i didnt have to carry sheetmusic around with me..this goes for most of my music..i learned the moonlight sonata first and second movements from glancing at the sheetmusic on my computer screen (as i dont have a printer) and just doing it bars at a time from memory...i guess i amalgamated this "skill" with the basic muscle memory and ear memory...now there is a huge pro..and a HUGE con to this way of learning i have....i pick up music very very quickly...and my photographic memory allows me to thumb through libraries of music in my mind...the bad side is..i cant sight read worth sh1t really..literally..if i were to take out a basic 1 page piece from a first year alfred piano piece..i couldnt play it for you on the spot...although with maybe a few minutes of analyzing it i could chum it up for you...so i dont think i'll ever be a good accompany pianist..but i wouldnt trade in my style of learning for sight reading anyday...i like picking pieces up quickly and not having to look at sheet music while playing....


and when i say photographic memory...its not so much as having a snapshot of the sheetmusic is my head as i read through it like one would read through this post note for note..its more like..an engraving of the melody, phrasing, and overall music...another downside to this is i at times overlook miniscule dynamic markings on sheetmusic..but i make up for it by adding my own style to the music..or interpretation as others would put it..

ehh..i just read over my post and its a bit ambiguous..its really hard to describe the way my memory works but its unique in that i havnt come across anyone else who learned this way..for the longest time i thought everyone learned this way..till my i played days on end with my teacher and she continually was boggled as to why i never looked up at the sheetmusic...

long story short...i cant sight read to save my life...but nothing beats learning a chopin nocturne in 2 and a half weeks at only 8 months of playing piano

[prometheus]

I had eidetic memory as a child, but I lost the ability. This happens often. Most children with eidetic memory will lose it when they grow up.

As for adults, it seems rare. It seems assosiated with Aspergers and higher functional autism. Eidetic memory can also be faked. Chess grandmasters can memorise very complex positions. But when presented with chess positions that never occur in real chess games their skill fails them and they perform just as well as non-chess players. In this case there is no raw memory at work. But subtle and powerful knowledge of patterns in chess games.  They have learned to memorise chess positions.

As far as I know, it cannot be learned.

Some people can accomplish very unusual mental feats. Not only in terms of memorisation but also the ability to instantly see the number of, lets say needles, laying on a table, even if there are more than 100 needles. Normal people can recognise up to 5 objects instantaniously, without counting. A few people are slightly better at this. But some people can instantly notice if there are 123 or 123 needles laying on a table.
As for memory, some people can memorise a the order of a randomly shuffled deck of 52 cards. There abilities are very rare. Our brain is much more powerful than our computers, or even a simple calculator. But our brain can't outcalculate a calculator, at least generally. But it is easily powerful enough to do it. Our brain just isn't wired up to use its powers to do things like this. But some peoples brains are wired up differently. Even if they have unusual powerful brains, with these absurd acts of memory, counting and calculation, something must have been sacrificed. Thus the term idiot savant/autistic savant. But lets not think too black and white about these things.