Can you capture scenes just by looking at them? Find out with...
Can you capture scenes just by looking at them? Find out with our photographic memory test.
Some initial tests have suggested that quite a number of children, and perhaps adults too, have a special ability – something like a photographic memory, called “eidetic imagery”. This allows them to continue to ‘see’ an image, in detail, for a short while even after it is taken away.
Bang Goes the Theory invites you to take part in a short test, which will reveal for the first time just how many people have this talent.
There are only 10 questions, so do please try to do all of them, even if you think you are just guessing. You may not be aware of having the ability, so you might be doing better than you think! Initial tests suggest that talking disrupts the ability so try to do the test in a quiet place.
If you score highly, it might be a sign that you have a 'photographic memory' - in which case, you'll be asked if you'd like to take part in a more serious study being organised by the University of Iowa.
This test was devised by the University of Iowa Department of Psychology in association with Bang Goes the Theory and The Open University.
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This is quite lame. i answered a few questions initially only to find that as I answered one question, another question would pop up. This seemed almost like an infinite loop. Horrible. By the way, I have no Eidetic memory. In fact, my memory is poor (may be because I hold a contempt towards memorising saying CTRL+F in the computerised world is more accurate, less stressful and easy.)
Anyways, my point is that this test just annoys me.
I expect I don't have this kind of memory as I got around 10% and rising with practice, probably not the point of the test! However I have done tests like this before and I get the questions right when I have longer between images to process them, like taking two slides and sticking one over the top mentally. I understand why they do it quickly, so the after image in your head doesn't fade, however I would say that it is too quick...especially by the time it flicks to and then past the number boxes. I guess that probably means I don't have the ability as it was designed to find people who can process this information instanteously. Also, why restrict the answer to the first question to 3 figures? This could lead to a great deal of second guessing of answers in unconfident persons, at least it should state that the correct answer could be more or less figures. It just looks like a G on blue background or something to me whicgh would make sense as that would be fairly ambiguous and not lead to a vocabulary bias, but if I am wrong then the 3 characters could potentially be misleading. My other thought is that this gets easier the more you do it because you can figure out how to do it (there don't appear to be any instructions on technique...) I found just focusing on the white squares meant when the image shifted it became obvious what hadn't changed as the black and white contrast is very stark.
In my case, the accuracy of the memory is always proportional to the state of my emotions, and the state of my mind, at the time the event or imagery (to be recalled) is "recorded".
I can recite verbatim, or near-verbatim conversations from years ago, especially those with highly emotional contexts.
In summary, I don't think a "white square" test fits my gift.
I will recall what I wrote here, for years, now that I have chosen to do so (after having felt
the scoring wasn't accurate for my case).
John Wilbon
It is commonly known that Dyslexics take longer to focus. I have recently been diagnosed with Dyslexia and a photographic memory.... I got 50% in this test, but feel I definitely could have got more with more time to absorb and overlay images. I used pictures only, no techniques... It was simply too fast for me to recall and compare.
Interesting, I'm also registered dyslexic and I also scored 50% which is way above the average for this test (20%). I too felt I could have scored higher if I had had a little more time to let the image 'settle'.
By not giving instructions, perhaps The Open university is trying to twart a non-eidetic person from faking having eidetic memory. I believe it is a test of not eidetic memory, but of an 'eye' for patterns and some other 'knack' that any number of people could/do have. I believe eidetic memory, like any other memory requires time to 'absorb' or 'lock-in' what is seen. this test does not give enough time. Not time to memorize, but time to get a good 'take' as one would a real photo from a camera. I am not practiced at visual mind-bender games/tests, though I do love a good crossword puzzle. I think it takes someone with genuine eidetic memory to create a test to detect genuine eidetic memory. I learned in college how to set up questionnaires for surveys,etc. and found how easy it is to set up for finding other than what one was actually looking for. I was told @ 4 years ago that I have photographic memory- and here I have spent my entire life thinking everybody's memory worked the same way. No fancy test-just straight-forward "look at this for 10 seconds" (each of several pictures) then to describe in minute detail each one in random order--15 minutes later. I don't think there should be any gimmicks, tricks, or mirrors. If ya try too hard to prevent fraud- you confound the genuine article right along with the think-I-be's. Having phenomenal memory or seeing patterns-in-a-maze is not about eidetic memory--it is only about seeing patterns and having a phenomenal memory (with all the memory aids to gain that memory.) I don't have a solution-I am perplexed.
Am I the only person who really doesn't understand what the test is asking you for? If you should 'see' something, how can you write it in the three characters the answer box allows?
Hi Alphonse
Thanks for trying the test. To give a bit more clarity, without giving too much away, on the colour dot test, what you may well be seeing is a keyboard character; in the more challenging tests that follow, you’re asked to find which square remains white in both image pairs – and type in the number of that box, which will always be at most a three-digit number. I hope this makes it clearer.
best wishes, OpenLearn Moderator
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