Do you think I have an eidetic/photographic memory?

My grandfather had the most amazing memory. For example, if you asked him a question about, say, a specific military coup in the 1970s, he would give you a very detailed answer, and then say, "go downstairs to my magazine/book collection. Take the 1975 issue of National Geographic, page 36, about halfway down the page, in the second paragraph. The information is there."

I'm not kidding.

I've always had a better memory than most. For example, I know so many random facts about everything. It annoys people, but I can retain statistics and facts with ease. I study for tests just to be sure I am prepared sometimes, but I know that I don't really need to. My grades are impeccable as a result of this, 97 or above in all classes.

If I don't know an answer off the top of my head, I think back to my notes or my book and I "see" the info on the page. Sometimes I can actually read it, sometimes I can't and my brain just "knows" what it says there. When I can't remember how to spell a word, I visualize the word in my head in order to spell it.

I play instruments, and when I memorize music, most of it is thinking back to the sheet music. I cannot read the entire page, but I can definitely see a lot of it, mostly the first and last few lines.

Math formulas have always been easy. I literally see those in my head written out.

I can see rooms exactly how they look in my head. For instance, my preschool (keep in mind, I haven't been in there in over a decade) had this grey spiral staircase that led up to this dark green carpeted room with little specks of blue in it. There were grey elevators, and then the halls were painted this beige color and they led to to bunch of rooms on the left side. There was one classroom, then a bathroom(girls on the right, boys on the left), then another room, then there was a 90 degree turn to another room, then a stretch of about 10 feet, then an office...I could go on and on and describe all the rooms that were in that building that I had been into. I have more detailed recollections of rooms that I have been in more recently.

I only doubt I have one because I don't have the memory skills at all to the extent of my grandfather, as well as sometimes I just completely cannot remember something that I should, like where I put my book. I also don't read a page from memory and can recite it word for word, though my retention of the information itself is spot on.

So, do you think I have one? Why or why not? If so, do I have a very strong memory for someone with a photographic memory, or not?

Thank you.Do you think I have an eidetic/photographic memory?
That is amazing and is a gift. You have an incredibly memory and it's going to help you in the future. Celebrate it!Do you think I have an eidetic/photographic memory?
Visual memory, yes.



Photographic memory, no.