brain anatomy and photographic memory?

[Peter Ashby]

In Article <Pine.A32.3.91.960226180200.2861B-100000 at yu1.yu.edu>, Ariel Sloan
<sloan at yu1.yu.edu> wrote:
>I think that the way a photographic memory works is that you have to 
>understand how a normal memory works.  I think they are the same.  When 
>you hear or see anything your brain right away procceses it and adds it 
>and puts it into context with everything else you have seen or heard or 
>felt.  This works well with the wavelet theory that when you think of 
>something it is a wave and the wave gets very strong when you have made 
>many connections.  Someone with a photographic memory just has more ideas 
>stored up with wich to make connections with.  This is just what I 
>think.  If anyone one wants me to do research about my! theory they 
>should write.  Or they can use it in a scholarly journal.  Copyright 2-26-95

I think you are right up to a point.  I speak from the point of view of
having a photographic memory.  I'll illustrate with an example: I recently
passed the time while enduring a school play by going over in my mind all
the slides I was going to use in a half hour talk the next day.  I work in
development using transgenics and the slides were of blue mouse embryos.  I
can 3d rotate these embryos in my head and zoom in on details.  

I didn't realise I remembered any differently to anyone else until I got
married and my wife and I realised when I was describing a route to her by
saying: turn at that brick house with the verandah.... and she had no idea
since she remembers things quite differently.  Coming back to the original
point I associate memories of a lot of things visually.  For example in
order to remember a conversation, I have to remember where it took place and
while remembering it a picture of what I was looking at at the time will
come into my head.  So I don't think I have *more ideas* to associate things
with.  I just associate almost anything, even down to emotions with pictures.

A point of view from a * sufferer* make of it what you will.

Peter

Peter Ashby                             National Institute for Medical Research
Eukaryotic Molecular Genetics           London, England