photographic memory?

does anyone here on rhp have a photographic memory? if so how hard do you actually have to study to remember stuff you read in books? just wondering.

Oddly enough, an early study of memory involving chess players sought to test the hypothesis that a photographic memory is an effective one. This study, the first published by Alfred Binet, failed to support thousands of years of memory literature. Binet discovered instead that intricate chess positions were stored as abstract patterns rather than images of the board. Thus, science applied to the age old notion of photographic memory showed that the concept was in error, and this in turn opened the door to modern studies of memory.

For a readable summary of this research, have a look at "Chunking and Tasking, Chess and the Working Mind," chapter 7 in David Shenk, The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, and the notes to that chapter.

No such thing as a photographic memory. For instance, look at this number:

19726662001194418001492

take 10 seconds and memorize it the best you can. Then cover it up and write it down. Try it before you scroll down. Were you close?











People with awesome memory power are good at grouping and finding purpose within whatever they are memorizing. It was pretty obvious that these were some important dates, with a couple just thrown in there. Same applies to chess.

i can memorize where the pieces are on the board without looking at them and i can see moves but i'm wondering if people can look at a chess page read over it and have it stored in their head or not.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
Binet discovered instead that intricate chess positions were stored as abstract patterns rather than images of the board.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Well, whatever you want to call it, photographic memory or super memory, and however it's stored, diagrammatically or abstractly, I sure wish I had it. It would make things a lot easier for me. 🙂

Originally posted by kmac27
i can memorize where the pieces are on the board without looking at them and i can see moves but i'm wondering if people can look at a chess page read over it and have it stored in their head or not.

Originally posted by Zander 88
No such thing as a photographic memory. For instance, look at this number:

19726662001194418001492

take 10 seconds and memorize it the best you can. Then cover it up and write it down. Try it before you scroll down. Were you close?











People with awesome memory power are good at grouping and finding purpose within whatever they ar ...[text shortened]... that these were some important dates, with a couple just thrown in there. Same applies to chess.