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Original poster

AMA photographic memory

29 replies

takeapictureitwilllastlonger · 29/04/2023 17:12

this might be a bit random but just wondered if anyone had any questions!

I had a photographic memory as a child/teen/young adult which I've lost slightly recently (variety of reasons) but I just wondered if anyone had any questions or anything about having a photographic memory and thought I would do an AMA about it :)

OP posts:
Original poster
takeapictureitwilllastlonger · 29/04/2023 17:12

ah, im an idiot, I thought I was in AMA not AIBU. I'll move it over.

OP posts:
Arginalia · 29/04/2023 17:13

Hi OP - what is your earliest memory and does your photographic memory mean you can be certain of the dates of all your memories?

Original poster
takeapictureitwilllastlonger · 29/04/2023 17:20

Arginalia · 29/04/2023 17:13

Hi OP - what is your earliest memory and does your photographic memory mean you can be certain of the dates of all your memories?

oh that's a good question- I'll try and explain it as best as I can.

if I tied a date to something at the time, then yes I can remember the date. for example I remember vividly eating Rice Krispies before school when I was in p5 and I remember the time and date because it was on the tv and the conversation I had with my granda on the way to school. but if I didnt tie the memory to a specific date at the time, I can still remember the memory but not the date because I didnt know about it in the first place (hope that makes sense)

my earliest memory is being in the back room of my house and hoisting myself up to look out the window and everything I could see. I dont know the exact age I was but I was very young as we moved house so I can tie it to that. there wasn't any mention of my age in the original memory therefore I dont remember it IYSWIM. although its confusing because with photos, videos, stories from family you start to 'remember' other things but actually you're not and its just your brain making false memories based on what you're hearing, so although I remember other things I think some of them are my brain joining dots that dont exist (like false memories etc)

hope that makes sense :)

OP posts:
Plump82 · 29/04/2023 17:24

I went to school with someone with photographic memory. He did extremely well in school and university and everyone assumed he was very intelligent. While he's clearly very cleverly he also got far due to his memory and said that he was put under so much pressure to do well and get a high flying job and people expected so much of him. Have you experienced this?

Original poster
takeapictureitwilllastlonger · 29/04/2023 17:33

Plump82 · 29/04/2023 17:24

I went to school with someone with photographic memory. He did extremely well in school and university and everyone assumed he was very intelligent. While he's clearly very cleverly he also got far due to his memory and said that he was put under so much pressure to do well and get a high flying job and people expected so much of him. Have you experienced this?

absolutely. I haven't actually told many people about the memory and I keep it quite private. but I was successful in school (that sounds much cockier than I intended, I didn't mean it to sound over confident) but I put tremendous pressure on myself and felt so much external pressure and eventually burnt out and had to take time out of education. I was in uni and I remember sitting in the library looking at a page of numbers and it felt like it was in Chinese - I could see it but I couldn't take any of it in never mind remember it. I tried to buy a coffee on the way home and couldn't work out what coin was what. I knew what I was seeing but the connections in my brain weren't happening. I tried to put my ticket in the machine to get the train home and couldn't work out what to do. My brain was completely and utterly fried. I left uni the next day

I took a minimum wage job which required much more practical brainpower rather than studying and memory. I had to think about what I was doing and why I was doing it rather than memorising and it was like I worked an entirely different part of my brain. It was the best thing I ever did and I dread to think how burnt out my brain would have been had I not left uni that day!

OP posts:
Arginalia · 29/04/2023 18:03

hope that makes sense :)

Very much so, thank you.

Misstabithabean · 29/04/2023 18:11

When did you begin to understand that your brain/memory worked in a different way to most other people's?

Do you remember things as pictures or videos with or without audio?

Panda89 · 29/04/2023 18:13

Oooo not a question but I also have a photographic memory.

Very useful for exams but the downside was my exam results made people think I was intelligent (I was penned as an oxbridge candidate etc) when I'm really not intelligent, I just have exceptional recall skills. Teachers were very confused by me when I didn't want to go to uni at all.

Cakeandslippers · 29/04/2023 18:17

Do you have to make a conscious effort to remember things or can you just access memories on demand? So would you need to purposefully scan a room to take everything in or does it just go in if you are there?

And do you remember everything you've ever read?

hiredandsqueak · 29/04/2023 18:19

How do you forget things? My ds has an incredible memory,so for example, he could sit in a uni lecture write a couple of words as a prompt and then recall the whole lecture many weeks or months later. He would also play footbal manager at the same time. His notes generally consisted of four or five words and the odd "do not remember" for him to cut out anything unnecessary. What do you do to forget or not save anything inconsequential?

Original poster
takeapictureitwilllastlonger · 29/04/2023 20:30

Misstabithabean · 29/04/2023 18:11

When did you begin to understand that your brain/memory worked in a different way to most other people's?

Do you remember things as pictures or videos with or without audio?

I always thought I had a good memory but nothing special. In primary school plays I was always the narrator because I could remember the entire script just by reading over it and I was always praised for having a good memory, but I remember learning the multiplication tables in school and my friends talking about how they would learn it (by reciting it with their parents over and over again, writing it out over and over again and so on) and I was confused about why they did that instead of just reading it. that was probably when I realised I had a better memory but I didnt know what a photographic memory was until I was older :)

I remember in pictures (I think, anyway!) eg when I remember a page of text I see the picture of it in my brain with the words and its like im reading it IYSWIM

OP posts:
Original poster
takeapictureitwilllastlonger · 29/04/2023 20:31

Panda89 · 29/04/2023 18:13

Oooo not a question but I also have a photographic memory.

Very useful for exams but the downside was my exam results made people think I was intelligent (I was penned as an oxbridge candidate etc) when I'm really not intelligent, I just have exceptional recall skills. Teachers were very confused by me when I didn't want to go to uni at all.

I can completely relate to that too!

OP posts:
junebirthdaygirl · 29/04/2023 20:37

My uncle had a photographic memory and he could remember what page an incident happened in a book. So he would say..do you remember on Page 123 when the character did this...it was exceptional. Can you do this?

LadySpratt · 29/04/2023 20:53

OP, do you think your photographic memory changed (enhanced or hindered) any passion you had for a particular subject?

LadySpratt · 29/04/2023 20:55

Ooh, and another question - do you feel you understand what you’ve read / are your abilities to infer altered?

Greenpasture · 29/04/2023 21:07

What do you do for a career?

Bibittybobittyboop · 29/04/2023 21:09

At school, were you able to demonstrate that you not only could recite, say, a poem but also understand and explain the meaning of the poem?

Littleworkaholic · 29/04/2023 21:19

I had a photographic memory, I say had, I may still do, but if I wrote it down I could remember it, reams and reams of it, I got 100 percent in my first year at uni for all my exams and was called in by the course leader and told if I did it again they would fail me, as I had regurgitated the answers word for word from the course work and shown no understanding of the subjects, so they had recognised it was due to a photographic memory . My friends were fascinated and would pick subjects out of one of our study books randomly and I was able to recite the paragraphs, or even pages,, word for word.

im older now and haven’t tried it for a long time, but I think I still could if I wished, maybe a little deterioration, but I don’t really think much.

pictures I can’t do it. And I have limited spatial awareness. The info didn’t stay in long for long either, a few days max, and then it would start to fade. So for 24 hours after it was 100 percent and every day after it deteriorated.

mackthepony · 29/04/2023 21:23

Do you earn heaps?

phoneissue · 29/04/2023 21:24

what are your job and hobbies and does your memory help?

Bibittybobittyboop · 29/04/2023 21:28

Thanks for this thread! I strongly suspect DS has a photographic memory, which is really interesting me because I am the complete opposite, but I did wonder if it was going to affect his comprehension. It has been very helpful hearing about your school and uni study.

EddieHoweisMYmanager · 29/04/2023 21:31

What an interesting thread, I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have a photographic memory. I guess for a career like law or something it would be fantastic. Less so for a job that requires you to have a deeper understanding of the words you can recollect with ease.

LubaLuca · 29/04/2023 21:32

I'm able to recall phone numbers, lists and so on by remembering what they look like as an image. When I have to remember something, I need to write it down and look at it. It was very useful for exams, having pages of notes stored like PDFs. I'm not saying I have perfect recall for every book I've ever read, it's a conscious thing tucking the images away.

My mum calls me a super recogniser because I have a great memory for faces too, although this isn't a deliberate thing I don't think.

I'm useless at remembering things with no specific image attached to them though. If I go to the shop for three things to buy having not seen a list I'll forget one of them. I'm no good at remembering conversations or special events either.

Is this similar for you, op? Or do your clear memories include more abstract things? I don't really know what a photographic memory is to be honest.

Simianwalk · 29/04/2023 21:36

My friend has a photographic memory and can recall a film by rewinding it in their head. Can you do that? Does your head get too full.

SweetSakura · 29/04/2023 21:36

Do you think it was largely innate or developed through practice?

I never thought I had a photographic memory but developed one when revising intensely for my law exams - I could picture huge numbers of flashcards etc it was hugely helpful! Now I can't even remember what I had for dinner today Grin

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