Eidetic memory - what type of memory is it, how to develop it

Eidetic memory in psychology is the ability to remember and reproduce images and situations from life in detail. This type is otherwise called photographic memory or phenomenal visual memory. Many people would like to have it. However, not every person knows that in psychology there is still no consensus on whether eidetic memory is a norm or a deviation. Let's try to understand what eidetic memory is and how to develop it. Is it necessary to do this and what is eidetics?

Definition of the concept

Eidetism is the ability to accurately and in detail describe those images and situations that remain in the past. Moreover, we are talking about visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory images. Who researched and described the type of eidetic memory? M. P. Kononova, P. P. Blonsky, N. D. Shreider, S. L. Rubinshtein, Artemov, Strakhov, E. Jensch, L. S. Vygotsky, A. R. Luria made their contributions. But the phenomenon was first described by the Serbian scientist V. Urbancic (1907).

Eidetic memory is a special type of figurative memory that allows you to instantly remember any images. The name is derived from the Greek word εἶδος, which means “image, appearance.” A person with such a memory only needs to look at the picture once, and then he will be able to describe in detail what he saw.

For example, a student with a photographic memory can look at the board once and then reproduce the formula from memory in a notebook during a test. Or a person with such a memory feature looks at the page of a book and then reproduces the text from memory, accurate to the word.

In addition, an eidetic person is able to again experience tactile and olfactory sensations and hear sounds based on one visual image. Moreover, the subsequent replay of situations from the past is no different from the initial real life.

This is what the mechanism of photographic memory looks like:

1. A person saw a picture (a life event, a still from a movie, a lecture on a blackboard, etc.) and remembered it in general.
2. A little later, accompanying images were deposited in memory: sounds, colors, background images, individual actions of the participants (the person himself did not notice this). Photographic memory works only if the individual awakens a sincere and strong interest in something, if something impressed him.
3. In the future, the person describes everything he saw. He goes from the general to the specific. Eidetics remember details that no one else would notice. For example, when describing an accident, they will name the driver's eye color, the victim's clothing, moles and scars on the participants, etc. Eidetics remember all this not only a few minutes after the incident, but also years later.

Important! The essence of eidetism is that a person does not comprehend what he sees, he simply “photographs” the picture and then reproduces it. Everything happens by itself, involuntarily.

The ability in the form of eidetic memory also has its disadvantages. A person remembers in detail all important events in life, including unpleasant and traumatic ones. In addition, eidetic people often have problems in the emotional sphere. It’s as if a person turns into a computer. And if we are talking about innate photographic memory, then in most cases it is combined with developmental disorders. For example, many children with autism have eidetic memory.

Eidetics for children

Eidetics is a specific technique that allows a small child to easily remember a large amount of information. Eidetics for children is a program aimed at the correct development of a child’s thinking and logic. As children complete this program, their creative potential develops.

By developing eidetic abilities in a child, you can be sure that he will be significantly different from his friends in memory and non-standard thinking.

The main goal of the method is the development of both visual and tactile memory, imaginative thinking, auditory and visual attention and imagination. The technique stimulates and improves speech, promotes rapid memorization of images and the child’s initiative.

How to develop in a child

The teaching methodology aimed at developing eidetic memory is aimed at children's imaginative thinking. Eidetics promotes the proper development of the child. After children take classes at their seemingly small age, the results last a lifetime.

Books

Reading is the main simulator for training the brain. There is a huge amount of children's literature for the development of eidetic memory. The books will serve as an excellent assistant to parents in the development of their child.

Games and exercises

Eidetics is easily perceived by children, since the technique is based on light games and exercises. To develop your baby’s abilities, you can work with him independently for 15 minutes a day; the exercises are suitable for children from 3 years old.

Exercises:

• An easy and fun exercise that helps develop children's visual memory is a game with pictures. To do this, you need to select as many pictures as possible depicting animals, birds, houses and toys. The child must pull out several of any pictures, and looking at them, make up a story about what he sees.
• Another useful activity. Before a walk, you can ask your child to tell him what he needs to wear for this. And each time make sure that he can list the items of clothing in the order in which he will wear them. He must list objects without seeing them, that is, visually.
• A child can easily be taught to know numbers. To do this, he needs to associate each number with something, for example, with a color or an object. In the future, when he voices out the numbers, he will simply visually represent each one with the object that he himself invented

Online resources for developing eidetic memory in children

You can not only practice with your child on your own, but also turn to online exercises and games that are aimed at developing the child’s memory and attention. The most common online simulators for developing a child’s intellectual abilities are Vikium and iqclub.ru.

is developing brain simulators that can significantly improve memory and concentration in children.

Vikium courses allow children and teenagers to develop:

• Memory
• Intelligence
• Attention
• Thinking

The courses operate online, and there is a free platform for children to study. After passing the introductory testing and registering on the website, the child receives a personalized lesson program. As you learn, you can also use paid services.

The program is designed to develop intellectual abilities in children.

The courses offer the following exercises:

• By reading
• To remember
• Development of thinking
• Attention training
• Thanks to the courses, a child can quickly learn to count

The Club program represents high-quality and harmonious training. The classes are interesting, fun and simple. Due to the fact that the courses are conducted in a playful way, children can easily understand them.

General user reviews of the resources are positive. Parents like that taking courses really helps their children in developing logical abilities and thinking.

How to learn poetry

Children have difficulty memorizing poems. Eidetics will help prevent this difficult learning process. Thanks to the technique, it will be easier for the child to remember the verse. The method of memorizing poems is based on memorizing not the words themselves, but the images with which the child associates them.

In psychology, this phenomenon is called the visual component of a poem. The lines of the poem turn into a visual film for the child. Any action in such a film will be associated in the child’s thoughts with a certain word from the work.

Development

Photographic memory can be innate or acquired. In the first case, this is due to abnormalities in brain development. In the second case, this is due to targeted work. Eidetics is the name of the science of the development of eidetic memory. Psychologists identify several approaches to the development of eidetic memory.

According to Aivazovsky's method:

1. Select an item, thing or object. Living or inanimate, the main thing is not abstract.
2. For a couple of minutes, carefully study the object, delve into every little detail, observe it.
3. Close your eyes, try to abstract yourself from the outside world and noise. Imagine this image in front of you. Repeat the details that you noticed, mentally draw them in front of you.
4. Open your eyes and compare the real object and the one you reproduced. Are there significant differences?
5. Repeat the exercise until you can visualize the object as accurately as possible.
6. Gradually make the task more difficult for yourself, for example, reduce the time spent studying the object.

Neurobics (aerobics for the brain):

1. Change your route regularly to your usual place. For example, before work or a cafe where you regularly have lunch. Try to carefully study the routes and remember them.
2. Do familiar things with your left hand (if you are left-handed, with your right). For example, try holding a toothbrush, spoon, or pen in your left hand.
3. Watch TV without sound. Try to understand what is being said by the general atmosphere, setting, gestures and movements.

Eidetics helps not only in the development of photographic memory, but also in strengthening memory as such. And also with the help of training you can prevent the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia and similar pathologies.

Interesting! Congenital eidetism is often associated with autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, mental retardation and other mental disorders.

Study of the state of eidetic memory in children of preschool and primary school age

Eidetic memory is an age-related feature of preschoolers, which children usually lose during the transition to primary school age. Eidetism (from the Greek eidos - image) is a type of figurative memory, the ability to reproduce vivid pictures of objects and phenomena after the cessation of their direct impact on the senses [1].

In Russian and foreign psychology, the study of eidetics was carried out by such scientists as M. P. Kononova, P. P. Blonsky, N. D. Schrader, S. L. Rubinstein, Artyomov, Strakhov, E. Jensch, L. S. Vygotsky, A. R. Luria [2,3,4]. The eidetic image can be mixed with real perception, affecting the visual size of perceived objects.

Scientists have established that not only in ontogenesis, but also in the phylogenesis of memory, eidetic images dominated at the primitive stage of human culture. Gradually, along with the cultural development of thinking, these phenomena disappeared, giving way to abstract thinking, and were preserved only in the primitive forms of thinking of the child. The eidetic image differs from the image of a really perceived object in the special experience of the reality of the latter, in its resistance to touch, whereas in the contemplation of an evoked visual image such confidence is absent. The eidetic does not remember, but, as it were, continues to see what has already disappeared from sight. The pictures that appear before his mind's eye are so clear that he can move his gaze from one detail to another. He can continue to see the series of words, signs, numbers presented to him, or turn the data dictated to him into visual images. Eidetic images are most often found in children and adolescents, but quite rarely in adults [5]. Experts suggest that children lose the ability to eidetic vision because they get older and learn to absorb information in different, better ways [6]. Since a person does not have to process what is viewed with eidetic imagery, it is an inherently ineffective way of remembering details. Eric Jaensch believes that eidetism is a natural stage of child development; the peak of eidetism occurs between 11 and 16 years of age. D. B. Elkonin believed that eidetic memory is an age-related feature of preschoolers; when moving to primary school age, children usually lose this ability [7]. It is believed that in adults it is less pronounced and only a few retain this ability for life.

R. Haber (1969) described some properties of eidetic images based on the results of a study conducted on 20 eidetic children selected from 500 children examined. One of the main objectives of the study was to clarify the nature of eidetic images, visual or mnemonic. The experiment determined the duration of exposure to the test object required for the formation of an eidetic image. It turned out that it was 5 seconds. The angular magnitude of the eidetic image is 2–3 seconds. This area is roughly covered by the foveal region of the retina, which provides clear vision. Thus, to obtain a complete image of a 5x5 picture, at least four visual fixations are necessary. The author established a connection between exposure time and the completeness of the eidetic image: if there was not enough time for observation, children reported that individual parts of the picture were not reproduced in the image, although they could remember their content. The duration of eidetic images in some of Haber's subjects reached 10 minutes or more, in others clear images lasting no more than 1 minute were observed, and none of the subjects could voluntarily prolong the eidetic image. The author has identified several ways in which children control the appearance of images. One of them is to not look at anything for too long. In addition, you can erase the image by intense blinking of the eyes or by looking away from the screen on which the picture was presented and where the image is projected. Reproducing the objects depicted in the picture prevents the emergence of an image. It is obvious that eidetic children retain information either in the form of images or in the form of verbal memory, and do not have both abilities at the same time. These data indicate the visual nature of eidetic images [8].

For different authors, in different places, in different children's groups, the percentage of eidetism is not constant. On the one hand, this is due to the novelty of the research itself, differences in methods and assessments. On the other hand, the percentage of eidetic children fluctuates depending on whether children with a less pronounced degree of this phenomenon are also included in the number of these cases. This phenomenon reveals a direct dependence on internal secretion, which not only varies depending on the constitution, individuality, age, race, but also varies depending on the area and geographical conditions.

The study of the state of eidetic memory and imaginative thinking in children of preschool and primary school age was carried out from January to April 2009, at school No. 1947 of the Eastern Administrative District of Moscow, as well as in kindergartens No. 1716 and No. 367 of the Western Administrative District. The study involved 150 children aged 4 to 12 years. Of these, 70 were children of primary school age, whose average age was 8 years, and 80 children of preschool age, whose average age was 5.5 years.

To identify eidetic memory, a technique developed by K. I. Veresotskaya was used. In the experiments of K.I. Veresotskaya, eidetic children are shown for a short period of time (30 sec.) some complex picture with a huge variety of details. After this, the picture was removed, and the child was asked questions about its content. It was assumed that the eidetic child continues to see the missing picture. The child explained in detail what was in front of him and read the inscriptions. The child read the text letter by letter, counted the windows on each floor, determined the relative position of objects and their parts, named their color, and described the smallest details. Identification of eidetism using this method was established through control questions and comparison of answers with the original picture (see Fig. 1) [9].

Rice. 1.

The study also presented subjects with a picture with more detail. After viewing the picture for 30 seconds, it was removed and the child was asked to answer questions about its content (see Fig. 2).

Rice. 2.

To identify the state of imaginative thinking in children of primary school and preschool age, the following methods were used.

For preschool children, the “Nonsense” technique was used. The child is asked to look at a picture full of “nonsense”; after 30 seconds the subject is asked to tell what is shown in the picture. In case of difficulty, the child is given help. The researcher helps the child begin to answer, overcome possible uncertainty, and asks questions: “Did you like the picture?”, “What’s funny about it?” The experimenter, together with the child, examines some fragment of the picture and helps to identify its absurdity: “Look, what is drawn here?”, “Could this happen in life?” (see Fig. 3).

Rice. 3.

Methodology Progressive Matrix Raven. This technique is intended to identify visual-figurative thinking in children of primary school age.

The child is offered a series of ten gradually more complex matrices of the same type. Having studied the structure of a large matrix, the child must indicate the part that best fits this matrix, that is, corresponds to its design or the logic of the arrangement of its parts vertically and horizontally. The child is given 10 minutes to complete all ten tasks. Each correctly solved matrix is ​​scored 1 point (see Fig. 4).

Rice. 4.

The results of the study of the state of eidetic memory of children of preschool and primary school age are presented in Table 1.

Table 1

Levels of development of eidetic memory in children of preschool and primary school age

From Table 1 it follows that a high level of eidetic memory was identified in the majority of preschool children. Thus, in preschool children, a high level of eidetic memory was detected in 16.2% of cases, in children of primary preschool age this figure was 14.2%. In addition, the number of children of primary school age with a low level of eidetic memory is twice as large as that of preschool children. Thus, in children of primary school age, a low level of eidetic memory was detected in 37.1% of cases, and in children of preschool age in 18.8% of cases.

The results of the study of the state of imaginative thinking of children of preschool and primary school age are presented in Table 2.

table 2

The state of imaginative thinking in children of preschool and primary school age

As can be seen from Table 2, a high level of imaginative thinking in preschool children is more common than in children of primary school age, 25% versus 15.7%.

Conclusion:

As a result of the study of eidetic and figurative memory, it was revealed that in preschool children the high level of eidetic memory was 16.2%, and the study also showed that the high level of figurative thinking in preschool children was 25%. Our research confirmed the theory of D. B. Elkonin. Eidetic memory is an age-related feature of preschoolers; when moving to primary school age, children usually lose this ability. The highest percentage of high eidetism was found in preschool children, whose average age was 5.5 years.

Literature:

1. Artyomov V. A. Modern German psychology. Part 1. Presentation // Psychology. 1928. T.1 Issue 1 p. 66–94.

2. Vygotsky L. S. Eidetics // Vygotsky L. S. et al. Main currents of modern psychology. M: Leningrad: Gosizdat, 1930. pp. 178–205 .

3. Vygotsky L. S. Eidetics // Reader on sensation and perception / Ed. Yu. B. Gippenreiter and M. B. Mikhalevskaya. M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1975. P.275–281 .

4. Luria A. R. About one attempt to build psychophysiology and personality typology // Psychology. 1930.T.3.Issue.4.P.574–582.

5. Vygotsky L. S. Lecture on general psychology: Lecture 1.

6. Collected works: In 6 volumes. T.4. Child psychology Author(s): Vygotsky L. S. Ed. D. B. Elkonina. - M.: Pedagogy, 1984. - 432 p.

7. Strakhov I.V. On the method of psychology in connection with the problem of type // Natural Science and Marxism. 1930.No. 1(5). pp.89–121.

8. Zinchenko T. P. Cognitive and applied psychology. - M.: MODEK, 2000 - 608 p.

9. Vygotsky L. S., Luria A. R. Sketches on the history of behavior: Monkey. Primitive. Child. 1932′: Sketches on the history of behavior: Monkey. Primitive. Child. - M.: Pedagogika-Press, 1993. - 224 p.

Degrees of eidetic memory

The development of eidetic memory goes through five stages:

1. Reproduction from memory is possible only with the image fixed.
2. Reproduction of images without additional fastening, but this only applies to weak images.
3. Reproducing more vivid images and details.
4. Involuntary memorization of important images with their further clear reproduction. At this stage, tactile, auditory, taste, and motor memories (sensory modalities) appear.
5. The highest degree, in which a person remembers everything in detail and very vividly, feels all the events of the past as in the present.

In the latter case, it is customary to distinguish two more types of memory: B and T. The first group includes those memories that a person controls and calls up from the depths of memory. Images from group T are not amenable to personal control; they emerge chaotically anywhere and at any time.

Interesting! Group T memories sometimes turn into hallucinations.

Eidetic memory training

Is it possible to become eidetic? Yes, photographic memory can be trained and developed. However, exercises for children and adults will be slightly different.

In children

At what age does eidetic memory appear? In senior preschool - junior school age. Therefore, the optimal age for training eidetic memory in children is 3–7 years. Otherwise, eidetic memory will be replaced by cause-and-effect remembering. And here there is no time for detailed images. However, according to other studies, the peak of eidetic behavior occurs between 11 and 16 years of age. The optimal solution is to train your memory from early childhood and throughout your life.

So, what exercises are suitable:

1. Visual drawing. The child is asked to answer the question “What does a number or letter look like?” and complete this image. For example, the letter B looks like a boat sail, and the number 3 looks like a snake. It is important not to limit the child - even if he comes up with unusual images, fantastic animals.
2. Mental drawing. The child is asked to memorize a certain verse, but when memorizing, he must imagine everything that he is talking about. Parents can help as much as possible, for example, splashing a little water on the child’s hand if the poem is about a river.

If these exercises are aimed at older preschoolers and younger schoolchildren, then universal techniques are suitable for other children. For example, the game “Find 10 differences” or this game:

• the child carefully examines the room for a minute, then goes out the door;
• during the player’s absence, other participants (classmates, parents, friends - anyone) change something in the room environment or in themselves, for example, exchange clothes with someone;
• the player returns and must name all the changes.

An important condition of the game: you need to preserve as much as possible the primary conditions of the picture that the player remembers. That is, for example, the poses of the participants should be the same. If someone sits differently, then this is already considered a change.

In adults

You can and should train your memory throughout your life, and it is important to pay attention to all types of memory and do different exercises. The same principle applies here as in sports: in order for all muscles to grow, you need to constantly increase the load and change the set of exercises.

So, exercises for training eidetic memory in adults:

1. When leaving the house anywhere, be it on the way to work, going to the store or walking, count the houses, windows, cars, trees you meet. Study their color, shape, and other features. Next time, reproduce this from memory: “Yeah, now there will be a red house, it’s the fifth one on this street.” And compare your answers with reality. This exercise has the added benefit of developing awareness. Do you pay attention to everyday little things or do you spend most of your life on autopilot? I think it's the second one. And this exercise will teach you to live here and now.
2. Practice with texts. For this you will need an assistant. Print out any text you understand on a landscape sheet. Please read it carefully. Ask a friend to add a couple of logical sentences or words to the text and print it out again. Read the new text, try to find extra words and expressions.
3. Every time you try to remember some information, imagine it in images. Choose the most unusual associations. Come up with something fantastic.
4. For the general development of attention, memory, intelligence and creative thinking, it is useful to read words and sentences backwards.

Important! Eidetics is the main means of developing and strengthening memory. As auxiliary means, psychologists recommend giving up bad habits, mastering self-regulation techniques, learning how to deal with stress, playing sports and systematically loading the brain (crosswords, tasks, puzzles, etc.).

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Key words:1Self-knowledge

Examples of eidetic memory

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a phenomenal memory. At the age of three, he memorized what his father and sister played, and then reproduced it with precision. There is also a famous case when Mozart was in the Sistine Chapel and memorized a very complex piece. When he got home, he wrote it down. The original sheet music for this piece was kept in a secret place. Upon further comparison of Mozart's recordings and the original, their complete coincidence was established.

Another famous composer, Sergei Rachmaninov, had eidetic memory. One day another composer, Alexander Glazunov, came to his parents’ house. He presented his new work. What a surprise it was for Glazunov and everyone present when, immediately after this, Rachmaninov sat down at the piano and repeated everything exactly to the note.

Another striking example of eidetic memory is the domestic chess player Alexander Alekhine. In 1934 he became the winner of the blind games competition. In addition, the chess player remembered step by step each of the games he had played throughout his life. This is not Alexander's only ability. After the first reading, he could remember 10 or more pages, remembered and recognized faces perfectly, and knew six languages. In conversations with other people, he named details and situations that the interlocutors themselves did not remember. Alexander remembered every little detail, his images were very vivid.

Famous people with eidetic memory

History knows many examples of people with innate or acquired eidetic memory. Here are just a few of them:

1. T. Roosevelt. Every day I trained my memory and read three books.
2. N. Tesla. Since childhood, he had a phenomenal memory.
3. John Paul II. Knew 21 languages ​​and 100 dialects.
4. Kim Peak. A simple, but at the same time unusual resident of America. Kim read two pages in parallel and immediately remembered what he read.
5. Ferdinand Marcos. He memorized, reproduced or retold text of any complexity and volume.
6. Julius Caesar. He had an excellent memory for faces and knew all the soldiers.
7. Meryl Henner. Another ordinary, but unique American resident who remembered her entire childhood in detail.
8. Mary Elizabeth Bowser. A legendary intelligence officer who memorized and accurately conveyed all the information she learned.

Eidetic people

Green color in psychology - what it means in life, who likes it

True eidetism is a rather rare phenomenon, but history knows many outstanding people with such talent. Legends say that the ancient Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar and the famous commander Alexander the Great visually remembered all the military personnel in their armies; there were up to 25 thousand of them. According to legend, the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca accurately and consistently reproduced an incoherent set of two thousand words.

Other examples of eidetic abilities are known:

• B. Gates (founder of Microsoft) kept several hundred programming language codes in his memory.
• Chess players P. Morphy and P. Seance did not forget a single move from the games they played.
• The famous politician W. Churchill kept in his memory and accurately reproduced all the works of W. Shakespeare.
• Archaeologist G. Schliemann mastered any foreign language perfectly within 6 weeks.
• Physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla remembered all his inventions without notes. Even a fire in his laboratory could not cause any damage to the diagrams and formulas, since they were stored only in the scientist’s memory.

Nikola Tesla and his memory

• US President Theodore Roosevelt constantly trained his memory by reading books and reproducing their plots in fine detail.
• For the Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, one quick glance at the score was enough to accurately perform a piece of music.
• Pope John Paul II knew 21 languages ​​and about 100 different dialects perfectly.
• Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos was famous for his precise knowledge of the text of the country's Constitution and his instant memorization of speeches written for him.
• American actress and TV presenter M. Henner knew exactly all the smallest details of her biography from the moment she was baptized in infancy.
• The British painter S. Wilshtier has the ability to reproduce in detail the plan of a populated area after one flight over it.

Eidetic memory is an exceptional phenomenon, the essence of which has not yet been studied by scientists. Many people want to quickly and effortlessly perceive and retain a large amount of information, but it is not for nothing that nature bestows such a gift only on a select few. A true eidetic can be considered a genius, while at the same time, there are cases in psychology when this genius became a mental deviation and was the reason for a person’s isolation from society.