Originally Posted by TheSquealer

i've been reading non stop for a few weeks about memory actually. there is no such thing as a "photographic memory" unless you have some serious brain malfunctions. I don't think there ever exists such an ability without a corresponding and similarly major disability. developing and practicing memory encoding strategies and retrieval strategies is not the same as ability. it can be learned like anything else we learn. so basically he's lying or doesn't understand the strategies he uses.

my family used to say that i had a photographic memory because i never ever lost my way and could remember directions or how to navigate to a location in a different city for example when being there when i was 7, then do it again at 18. but really what i was doing was watching for things that stood out. broken signs, houses that settled and were not level, old broken down vehicles in yards or whatever and remembering them as part of the experience of being to that city and recalling them frequently... making it much easier to recall years later.

our memory is very fascinating and for the most part, our memories are degrees of false from a few % of the details to 100% and entirely fabricated.