Two time USA Memory Champion and memory training speaker and memory expert Ron White shares the answer to the question : Does Ron White have a photographic memory? :
Wikipedia says that, ‘Eidetic or photographic memory is popularly defined as the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume.’
So do I (Ron White) have a Eidetic or photographic memory? Short correct answer = NO
Longer correct answer =
An Eidetic memory is typically referred to as someone who has the ability to look at information for say 30 seconds and then be able to recall the information so vividly it is like they were looking at a photograph of the information. This is the result of a 100% natural process in the brain and not memory training, as what I – (Ron White), use.
This video below of Stephen Wilshire is REMARKABLE and also the result of a true photographic memory. To my knowledge, Stephen is not using memory training to recall this information. Instead it is simply a remarkable illustration of an incredible natural memory. Here is an incredible video of Stephen:
The term, ‘photographic memory’ has been incredibly over used in my opinion. It has been used to describe anyone who demonstrates an exceptional memory capability and that just isn’t accurate. Over a period of 30 years, a baseball broadcaster may become such an expert at baseball he has hundreds of thousands of baseball facts in his brain. This does not mean that he has a photographic memory although his recall for baseball may truly be phenomenal.
What many of the memory training experts are doing is the result of a memory system and not a true photographic memory. So the simple answer is that ‘No, Ron White does not have a photographic memory.’ Instead mine is a trained memory and in reality the term ‘photographic memory’ is incredibly over used and incredibly rare.
Wikipedia further states:
Strong scientific skepticism about the existence of eidetic memory was fueled by Charles Stromeyer who studied his future wife Elizabeth, who claimed that she could recall poetry written in a foreign language that she did not understand years after she had first seen the poem. She also could, apparently, recall random dot patterns with such fidelity as to combine two patterns into a stereoscopic image.[ She remains the only person documented to have passed such a test. However, the methodology of the testing procedures used is questionable (especially given the extraordinary nature of the claims being made) and the fact that the researcher married his subject, and that the tests have never been repeated (Elizabeth has consistently refused to repeat them) raises further concerns.
As of 2008, Elizabeth is in fact the only person who has claimed a ‘Photographic memory’ that has been tested.
If you ask me….bottom line….over used term and incredibly rare. If you want a photographic memory just find some good memory training and you will be halfway there…
