With a few notable exceptions, however, most research has shown that virtually no adults seem to possess the ability to form eidetic images. Although it is certainly controversial, some researchers also believe that eidetic imagery occurs more frequently in certain populations of the mentally retarded (specifically, in individuals whose retardation most likely stems from biological, rather than environmental, causes) and also among geriatric populations. And it is an equal-opportunity phenomenon-theres no gender difference in who is likely to be an eidetiker. The prevalence estimates of the ability among preadolescents range from about 2 percent to 10 percent. The vast majority of the people who have been identified as possessing eidetic imagery are children. This suggests that eidetic images are certainly not photographic in nature but instead are reconstructed from memory and can be influenced like other memories (both visual and nonvisual) by cognitive biases and expectations. In fact, besides often being sketchy on some details, it is not unusual for eidetikers to alter visual details and even to invent some that were never in the original. After all, a perfect memory is what is usually implied by the commonly used phrase 'photographic memory.' As it turns out, however, the accuracy of many eidetic images is far from perfect. You might expect that an individual who claims to still see a picture after it has been removed would be able to have a perfect memory of the original picture.

Furthermore, once gone from view, rarely can an eidetic image ever be retrieved. Unlike common visual images created from memory, most eidetic images last between about half a minute to several minutes only, and it is possible to voluntarily destroy an eidetic image forever by the simple act of blinking intentionally. Also, it is not possible to control which parts of an eidetic image fade and which remain visible. Second, a common visual image that we can all create from memory (such as an image of a bedroom) does not have the characteristics of most eidetic images, which almost always fade away involuntarily and part by part. (For example, a flash camera can produce afterimages: the flash is bright white, but the afterimage is a black dot, and the dot moves around every time you move your eyes.) In contrast, a true eidetic image doesnt move as you move your eyes, and it is in the same color as the original picture. First, an eidetic image is not simply a long afterimage, since afterimages move around when you move your eyes and are usually a different color than the original image. Consequently, one of the hallmarks of eidetic imagery is that eidetikers use the present tense when answering questions about the missing picture, and they can report in extraordinary detail what it contained.Įidetic images differ from other forms of visual imagery in several important ways. In addition, they can scan it and examine different parts of it just as if the picture were still physically present. People possessing eidetic imagery will confidently claim to still 'see' the picture. After 30 seconds have elapsed, the picture is removed from view, and the person is asked to continue to look at the easel and to report anything that they can observe.

In it, an unfamiliar picture is placed on an easel and a person carefully scans the entire scene. The most common way to identify eidetikers (as people with eidetic imagery are often called) is by the Picture Elicitation Method.

In the scientific literature, the term eidetic imagery comes closest to what is popularly called photographic memory. Lawrence University and co-author of the college textbook Memory from a Broader Perspective, explains. Alan Searleman, a professor of psychology at St.

Eidetic image definition