Semi-Portrait
Of A Friend
(There’s More To Him Than This.)
I
have a friend
Who
has a perfect memory.
You’d
have to sift through thoughts –
The
you and I - but he,
He
pictures everything,
Recalls
it all – dates, times, the history.
What
could be wrong
With
knowing all the lyrics to each song you hear?
Draw
near, I’ll tell you:
He
remembers all the bad and good;
He’s
filtered nothing. Think if you could
Think
back on all that wasn’t good in life:
The
sad, the mad, the hurts, the wife?
Besides
the perfect recall
He
sees it all in black and white.
All
is beautiful or quite unpalatable;
If
disgusting, I would guess it’s frustrating –
To
lash out, then to smother it with, ”Asch!”
To
bring to mind each second and
To
have opinions strong.
He’s
never wrong –
(One
of his ‘strong’ opinions).
Plus,
he takes offense,
Pretends
indifference.
We’re
friends.
I
don't mean to offend;
Pretend I'm
scatterbrained -
And
comprehend.
Photographic Memory -- Kris Parins
-- Randy Mora
Photographic memory is the ability to recall text or page numbers in great detail. Eidetic memory is the ability to vividly recall images (or auditory or sensual memories associated with visual stimuli) after a limited exposure with high precision for a brief time. The terms are popularly used interchangeably, but "photographic memory" seems to be a popular culture myth that has never been scientifically demonstrated, while eidetic memory has perhaps been documented in a small number of children (perhaps 2-10% of those aged 6 to 12) and is virtually nonexistent among adults (the results remain controversial). "Eidetic" comes from the Greek word "eidos" (seen). Eidetikers have an almost faithful mental snapshot or photograph of an event in their memory in so much detail, clarity, and accuracy that it is as though the image were still being perceived. They report a vivid afterimage that lingers in the visual field as their eyes scan across the described image, which is externally projected rather than experienced in the mind. However, vividness and stability begin to fade within minutes, vocalization interferes with the memory, and the memory often contains information that was not present in the original visual stimulus. By contrast, photographic memory is the ability to briefly look at a page of information and then recite it perfectly without the use of mnemonics, expert talent, or other cognitive strategies; for example, John von Neumann (Neumann János Lajos), who pioneered the application of operator theory to quantum mechanics, developed functional analysis, and was a key figure in the development of game theory and the concepts of cellular automata, the universal constructor, and the digital computer, claimed he was able to recall from memory every book he had ever read. Chessmasters have often been credited with being able to memorize complex positions of chess pieces; however, from th 1940s to 1960s Adriaan de Groot conducted a number of experiments that showed their recall was no better than for nonexperts in terms of arrangements of pieces that could never occur in a game, suggesting that they had developed an ability to highly organize certain types of information rather than possessing innate eidetic ability. In addition, a condition called hyperthymesia ("excessive" + thymesis, "remembering") is characterized by spending an excessive amount of time thinking about one's past and displaying an extraordinary ability to recall specific events such as whom he was with, what he was wearing, and how he was feeling on some specific date many years in the past, but the ability seems not to extend to non-autobiographical information, and is often accompanied by depression stemming from the inability to forget unpleasant memories and experiences.
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