Eidetic MemoryImagine having the ability to take a screenshot of what you see. It sounds like photographic memory, that superhuman ability you often hear about on Dateline or in movies and shows. Although the idea of ​​saving everything one has ever perceived, storing it like a file in a cabinet, and recalling it at any time seems astonishing, it is simply not plausible. Despite the stories you may have heard from friends, photographic memory isn't real. This misconception is often confused with eidetic memory. Eidetic memory is the ability to recall certain images in great detail over a period of time. The key detail of eidetic memory is that these “snapshots” are not stored forever. They eventually disappear over time, just like the ability itself. In 1964, Haber and Haber, two psychologists, conducted a series of studies on eidetic memory and discovered a correlation between age and the brain's ability to do eidetic memory. In their experiments, children were exposed to a detailed image on an easel for approximately thirty seconds. When the picture was removed, the children scanned the blank easel to recall the picture. They described the image in the present tense, as if it were still there (Arnaudo, 2008). Haber and Haber found that, although relatively rare, eidetic memory occurred more in children than in adults. But after further research, it seems there is an explanation for its gradual disappearance as one matures. Eidetic memory is more common in children because as they grow, their brains develop linguistically, functionally, and associatively. Children's processing of information is elementary and therefore the “copying” of images in the head is only a crude system of perception. .... middle of article ...... shakes them up and studies and research are still underway to better understand this puzzling case. But to understand the correlation between age and eidetic memory, we can examine the causes according to three different theories. The first theory is linguistic theory, the idea that as children grow, their language skills help them perceive information. The second theory concerns functionalism. The idea is that over time, the child's brain learns to retain only meaningful information and discard unnecessary information. And the last theory concerns association. As we grow up, we learn to combine our different senses in order to process information. Overall, each theory is credible, as one provides a thoughtful and logical explanation for why children rely less and less on visual imagery to construct their memory..