Photographic memory is the ability to remember things that you hear or see at a very high level of detail.
In this article I will explain to you How to have photographic memory From 3 techniques, two of them used by world champions of memorization.
If you spend a little time learning these exercises, you will be able to develop and greatly improve your memorization skills.
Intelligence is the wife, imagination is the lover, memory is the servant.-Victor Hugo.
You may also be interested in Exercises to develop creativity or Mind games .
My experience
In college, institute and university I have spent hours, probably thousands studying. Who knows how many days are equivalent to those hours, but surely many, probably months.
However, a summer day came when I started investigating Memorization techniques , To develop the photographic memorandum and the fast reading. That was an important turning point; I started to get better grades and also studied much less. In less time I memorized everything much faster and much more accurately.
Pass to take out say on average a 7 to get 9 (over 10), without exaggerating. It was the first year I got honors at the University. I wish I had learned them before, but sadly this is not taught in traditional training, although in my opinion it should be mandatory. In this article I show other techniques I used.
The minimum application is a breakthrough, so if you apply them you will be, say, to advantage. On the other hand, although they know, there are people who do not believe in them and prefer to continue studying and memorizing as they have always done, instead of investing some time in learning these techniques.
In my case, I have stopped practicing the photographic memory (also called eidetic), although this article will allow me to teach you what I know and also remember it.
Please, if you like or you think you can help someone, share the article. Thank you!
Introduction: what is and is not the photographic memory
According to Jaensch, a German psychologist, the eidetic (or photographic) image is a perceptual phenomenon more common in the child and rare in the adult. It is an image of an object or figure that after being perceived, can be projected and perceived again, in some cases with fidelity of detail, color and shape.
The photographic image can be produced spontaneously, at will on a surface (paper for example) or visualized with closed eyes.
The capacity of this memory has a great individual variation. That is, there are people who have a great capacity, while the majority has a total lack.
On the other hand, watch out for Hollywood movies.
From them you can think that this memory is the ability to save an image of anything you look at, as if your brain was a digital camera. This is not so, not at all.
The correct definition is"the ability to recall information or visual images in great detail".
At least I do not know of any case that has the capacity of the Hollywood definition, but let me know because it would be interesting. In any case, I do not think it is possible to develop your mind as a digital camera.
How can you tell if you have this ability?
Put a flower figure or landscape (for example a photo) on a gray paper background. If you have this ability, when you remove it you can describe the image, even minutes after removing the photo.
Who has this ability? Can it be developed?
This ability is rarely found in young children and even less in adults. It is believed that if you are not born with it you can not develop.
It is possible that it can not be developed at such a high level of detail as the known cases, but if at a much lower level it is going to make a big difference to the vast majority of people.
Therefore, in my opinion if it can develop, not to a degree as high as the people who are born with it but if one is already a breakthrough. That is, you may not see in your mind the image itself, as children can. But you will be able to remember objects of images and it is possible that with the neural development you will be better able to remember details.
If you have this memory or you know other techniques, please comment in the comments section.
Something similar is the Hipertimesia Or superior autobiographical memory. It is a syndrome / phenomenon that makes the person remember everything he has done during a day with almost perfect accuracy. They are even able to remember what they did on a particular day of years ago.
Of course, if you are not born with that condition, you can not acquire it. What you can develop is memory to some degree, but you will have to do it consciously and with effort.
Anyway, people who have it feel overwhelmed because they have a continuous stream of memories, so it is best that you can evoke memories at will, even if it involves effort and energy expenditure.
How to develop photographic memory
Next I'll teach you 3 techniques and an extra to improve your photographic memory. Keep in mind that you need to dedicate time and effort. It is a psychological skill and you have to train it, just like you have to train a physical ability, like tennis or dancing.
For my part, I began to learn the first and I came to dominate something. The last two I learned in a short time and nowadays effortlessly I can memorize objects of images, lists or long numbers.
1-The military method
This is the technique, so far known, that will bring you closer to the"super powers of the digital mental camera".
You need a dark room, a blank sheet of paper and a light / flexo.
It is based on turning the light off and on while looking at the sheet of paper. When the lights go out, you will have an image of the paper in your mind that will last seconds. It is assumed that the more you practice, the longer it will last. If you do it 15 minutes a day for a month you will see great advances.
To succeed with this technique you will have to train a lot, probably more than two months. Just as it is difficult to be fit only one month after going to the gym, to train the mind also needs its time.
1-Choose a dark room, free of distractions and with a lamp or light whose switch you have at your fingertips.
2-Sit in a comfortable position where you have easy access to the switch, without having to get up. Cut a rectangular space on your sheet of paper. It will have to be in the middle and the size of a paragraph.
3-Put the sheet with the rectangular hole in a book or what you want to memorize, so that the hole shows only one paragraph (or what you want to memorize).
Adjust the distance to the book so that when you open your eyes you automatically focus on the words.
4-Turn off the light and let your eyes adjust to the darkness.
Turn the light on for a second and turn it off again.
Then you will have an imprint in your eyes (actually in your brain) of what is in front of you, in this case the paragraph inside the rectangle.
It can also be something like this:
5-As that imprint fades, turn on the light for a second, while looking at the paragraph.
6-Repeat this process until you can remember each paragraph / image word in correct order.
It is assumed that if you have done well you will be able to read the paragraph or see the image that were previously in the rectangle. Only this time you will read it from your mind.
If it causes you headaches, leave it alone.
2-The Loci Method
This method has been used since the Roman Empire still existed and works very well because it is based on images, which have much more meaning for the brain than words.
If I say the word"stadium"or"football field", you will probably imagine the Bernabeu, Camp Nou, the Aztec of Mexico or any other, but I do not think you can imagine the written word.
This technique is based on converting information into images and relating those images to a physical location that you know well. It may seem strange to you, but if you go through all the steps and practices, you will understand and it will be simple.
1. Choose a place / house
Choose a place you can easily view. It can be a park, your room, your house, a monument, a bar...
It must be a place that you know well, that you visit often and the more details you can see better. For example, for me a place that I can describe in detail my house.
2. Choose a route
Now that you've chosen a place, you have to choose a route.
For example, for my house would be: I enter through the front door, walk in the living room, I go to the kitchen, then the first room, then the second, then my room and end up in the kitchen.
You need to know the route well and the better you do it the better. You also need to always do the same route. Choose an entry point and an exit point or end point.
3. Write down distinctive details
Close your eyes and visualize your place / house. Imagine that you are in it, starting at the point of entry.
You can see the front door, you see yourself entering through it, you look to the left and to the right. Do you see? In my case, I see a key ring on the right and a shelf on the left.
Walk your route and analyze the details of each room or place. In the meantime, take note of those details. The more details you can see the better.
4. Begin to relate
You already have your place, your route and you have visualized every possible detail, having finished at the starting point.
Now, you will have to take every detail you have listed (you could point it on a sheet) and relate it to something you want to memorize.
Let's say you want to memorize the shopping list and you have: orange juice, bread, chicken, napkins.
In my case, I will take for example the chicken and I will make a relationship with the entrance door, in this case with the key ring. For example: I imagine the chicken is hanging on the key chain and is clucking exaggeratedly, so much that it draws the attention of the neighbors.
As you can see, the more ridiculous, weird, crazy or exaggerated the relationship, the better because it will be easier for you to remember. If you do something usual or boring you probably will not remember it. The human being remembers the unusual.
I would then take the orange juice, the bread and the napkins and relate them to other objects on my route. It will be very improbable that I forget them if I have done them correctly.
5. Go to your place / house
Now you have to pay a visit to your place.
In my case, as soon as I enter I will meet the chicken cackling...
Later, as I walk the route I will see the other objects.
6. Continuous practice
This technique works very well, although it has to be practiced continuously.
At the beginning it takes more effort and it will take you more time to memorize objects, images or things but with practice it becomes almost automatic.
The downside is that you are supposed to go through the whole route to remember the objects, but with practice you do it in seconds.
3-Memory string
Like the previous technique, this will not allow you to have an imprint of an image in your mind, but if it will allow you to remember all the objects you want from an image.
This technique has more uses and can be developed in a more complicated way. I learned it from Ramón Campayo, a world champion of memorization.
1-Relate numbers with something.
You simply have to relate a number to something (an object, an animal, a person) that you remember well.
In my case, I related it like this (more than 4 years ago and I still remember it):
1-tea.
2-Ñú.
3. Love (a boss).
4-KAO (a punch).
5.Ola.
6. Bear.
7.UFO (a UFO).
8. Garlic.
9. Ave.
10.Toro.
Applications:
-If you want to memorize a very long number (20 numbers or more) you can do it in 1-2 minutes. Once you have numbers associated with things, you imagine or visualize a chain reaction. For example, for the number 67589:
Visuals: a bear caught by a UFO. The UFO is shot down by a giant wave of garlic that tries to eat several birds. The more absurd and spectacular the story is.
-You can also memorize any list of objects, although in this case you would not need the object-number relationship.
For example, to memorize this list: dog, computer, table, popcorn, car.
You can visualize: a dog hitting a giant computer, which is dropped from a table to a floor full of popcorn. In the end he is run over by a car.
- If you want to memorize an image: you simply have to relate the objects of the image with your list of 1-10.
1-Tea: you visualize a lemon bathed in tea.
2-Ñú: You visualize a wildebeest eating giant tomatoes.
3-Master: you visualize a master of a house throwing apples to the people that walks in the street...
...
4-Improving Habits
Your memory will not only depend on these techniques, but will instantly improve if you take care of your diet and habits.
The most important are:
1-Meditation
The meditation Improves memory, even that of dreams.
By meditating you are training the mind, you learn to perceive better and to realize what surrounds you. In short, it gives you more control over your thoughts. In fact, it has been shown to produce changes at the neural level.
2-Sleep
Sleeping is fundamental To consolidate what you have learned during the day. In fact it is believed that dreams have such a function.
In various experiments it has been shown that people who did not sleep or did not sleep at all consolidated their knowledge much worse.
3-Exercise
Yes, exercising is also good for memory, both directly and indirectly.
By doing sports, you increase blood circulation and this brings more oxygen to your brain.
Something you can try is to exercise after studying or trying to memorize something.
To end…
I would like you to think if you have been served these techniques, if you know some that has served you or what advice you can give. That way readers will have more opinions.
Remember, practice and you will get the greatest results. Do not give up on the first.
Brain You have to train it, just like any muscle.