This is a harmless mind trick that results from photoreceptors in your retina getting fatigued from focusing on the same color for too long. His interest in the subject was piqued during experiments on afterimages or вЂњghostвЂќ images, a phenomenon in which people, particularly children, can still see certain images in front of them for a brief period of time even after the photo is removed. One of the first prominent scientists who investigated eidetic memory is psychologist Ralph Norman Haber. For most people, these images are only stored for a few short seconds before being discarded or transferred to short-term memory. How eidetic memory worksД®idetic memory is believed to be controlled primarily by the posterior parietal cortexВ in the brain, where visual stimuli are processed and fragments of images retained. The details start to fade after a while though, so this is not exactly photographic memory that is supposedly still clear and vivid years later. People with eidetic memory will be able to continue вЂseeingвЂ™ the image with their mindвЂ™s eye, sort to speak, for another 30 seconds or so, and in some cases for entire minutes. Imagine seeing a photograph and then closing your eyes. But what science seems to confirm is that relatively few people possess so-called eidetic memory.Д®idetic memory is the ability to vividly recall a scene youвЂ™re exposed to, but only briefly. That sounds amazing but despite these claims, there is no evidence that such a thing as photographic memory actually exists. вЂњBut there's a common theme running through many of these research papers, and that's that the difference between ordinary memory and exceptional memory appears to be one of degree.Some people claim they have a photographic memory, that is they have the ability to recall a past scene in its tiniest detail as if they were describing a photograph. вЂњWhat we're left with is a lack of compelling evidence that eidetic memory exists at all among healthy adults, and no evidence that photographic memory exists,вЂќ Dunning wrote. They didnвЂ™t have amazing memories вЂ“ they were just really into chess. Chess grandmasters may be fantastic at memorizing chessboard patterns, but when researchers showed them randomly generated patterns that canвЂ™t exist in a real game, the experts were no better than the noobs. Yet even these feats are not evidence of eidetic memory, Hudmon explained. вЂњThe ability to retain an accurate image of the chessboard permit these players to play multiple boards at a time вЂ“ even while they are blindfolded!вЂќ вЂњFor example, many expert chess players possess a remarkable capacity to record the position of chess pieces at any point from a game,вЂќ wrote Hudmon.

вЂњEven after a long time, when recalling something perceived earlier, it is as if the child sees it again and can describe it in all the details.вЂќ вЂњAfter a single perception of the material and very little mental processing, the child continues to вЂseeвЂ™ the material, and restores it perfectly,вЂќ the authors continue. вЂњEidetic memory images are close to perceptual ones in their brightness and distinctness,вЂќ explains a recent paper on memory development, published in the Frontline Social Sciences and History Journal. Is eidetic memory perfect?Д®idetic memory is very, very good вЂ“ but itвЂ™s not perfect. Ask an eidetiker about something that happened last Thursday, and they'll likely answer you in the past tense ask them about the photoВ they were just looking at, andВ they may well answer in the present tense. What you will be able to do, though, is to see an image, hear a sound, or smell an aroma as if itвЂ™s still in front of you, for often just a short while, after itвЂ™s gone away.ДЄnd we really do mean 'see,' by the way вЂ“ studies on people who have eidetic memories, sometimes known as eidetikers, have shown that subjects' eyes move about in real-time as if they're still looking at the now-removed image they're describing. If you have an eidetic memory, it probably doesnвЂ™t mean you can, say, remember the color of a beetle walking across a table in your neighborвЂ™s garden on April 17, 2008.

вЂњThis is because this type of memory is as clear and detailed as a photographic image.вЂќ

Another term for eidetic imagery is