How to develop a photographic memory?

How to develop a photographic memory?

• i read this article on how to develop a photographic memory. http://www.ehow.com/how_4476504_develop-photographic-memory.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art does anyone know if it will work or think it will work?

• Answer:

  An interesting idea. With the caveat that I haven't tried it there would seem to be some likely advantages and some disadvantages to it. Possible advantages Firstly there is the repetition of individual paragraphs until you've learnt them. Repetition being *the* best known mnemonic technique. Also, forcing you to keep "reading" the same paragraph until you can picture every word perfectly is likely to give you more time to understand what that paragraph is saying. Increased comprehension is also good for memory. The flicking on and off of the light will likely force you to increase your reading speed. A lot of people look at one word at a time, reading virtually at speaking speed. Faster readers will look at a few at a time. Many speed readers will tell you to scan an entire line at a time - you can process info visually a lot faster than you can aurally if you don't insist on sub-vocalising every word. I suspect this aspect of the technique would force you into eventually developing this skill. Possible Disadvantages If this system works then the discipline it imposes could be good for short term revision. However, to remember something over the longer term, it is necessary to review the information several times at increasing intervals. If you are memorizing every word of a book, rather than every concept, it's going to take longer to review. That in turn makes it less likely that you will go to the trouble of reviewing, and the memories will fade. You might be better off developing your reading speed, ensuring you don't move on from a passage until you've understood it, and looking into mnemonic techniques for memorizing the concepts of the book. Combine with good study techniques and, although I think the method described may have something to it, I think you can probably get the same *practical* benefit in less ongoing time and effort with a little more up front time and effort to learn and prepare the techniques. In summary, it looks a like a straightforward to remember technique whose necessary discipline enforces a number of good practices. It does not enforce all possible good practices though and has some disadvantages, meaning that training yourself on the good practices separately is probably of greater benefit. Phew!