Do I have an abnormally acute visual memory?

January 23, 2007 4:52 PM

Do I have an abnormally acute visual memory? Or can a lot of people do this?

Ever since I was a kid people have remarked how fast I could read and still have decent comprehension. The other day, watching a friend search for a line in a novel she wanted to read me, I realized that she didn't remember where on the page it was. She had to scan both pages, flip, and continue.

If you asked me where the line in the (very trashy) novel I read last month that insinuated dragon masturbation, I could tell you that it was approximately 1/3 of the way through the book, on the top quarter of the left page, and had a full line break directly after it. I don't think I could do this with any line at will, only lines that struck me (or, in this case, seriously made me wonder why on Earth the author felt this scene was necessary). However, almost every section of a book that I remember well I can do this with.

I'm sure there are some speedy, speedy readers here. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?

posted by nathancaswell to grab bag (42 comments total)

Also, as a footnote, in the past when people have lamented how slowly they read, I generally asked them if they read one word or one sentence at a time. When I read it's like I'm seeing the entire sentence at once (sometimes a few) and am processing what it says as I am seeing the next sentence. Perhaps this reading in "chunks" has something to do with it?

It doesn't affect my comprehension of things like plot, or characters, but does affect my appreciation for prose. In fact, if I am reading something particularly beautifully written, I often force myself to read one word at a time, like I am speaking it aloud in my head.
posted by nathancaswell at 4:54 PM on January 23, 2007

I can remember if some line that stood out was at the top of the page, or the bottom, and how far along the book it was, so I don't think it is really abnormal. I read fairly fast, though, too.
On the other hand, my boyfriend will tell you if it was at the top of the page, or the bottom, and that he was facing north-northeast when he read it.
HE is the real freak.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 4:58 PM on January 23, 2007

i read that way too.
i have also talked to people who say they read slow cause they get hung up on each individual word.
posted by amethysts at 5:03 PM on January 23, 2007

A close friend and I both do this, so add two more.
posted by dilettante at 5:04 PM on January 23, 2007

Yep. And ditto your boyfriend, monster.

Nowhere near the league of the guy discussed here.
posted by Phred182 at 5:07 PM on January 23, 2007

I believe your facility is less than about your skills as a reader than your abilities as a visual learner. I'm also a visual learner (and not surprisingly, I ended up working in a visual arts field). However, as a humbling balance (lest I convince myself I'm a candidate for joining the X-Men), I simply cannot absorb information aurally: names spoken to me are forgotten instantly, lectures pass from one ear through to the other without pausing inbetween. If I want to remember/absorb something I've heard, I write it down and remember the visual of the note.

More about this here and an always amusing web-based self-test here.
posted by jamaro at 5:08 PM on January 23, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Eidetic Memory
posted by matildaben at 5:08 PM on January 23, 2007

I also read in chunks. I can do the "where it was on the page" trick, but only some of the time. I dated a guy who could do it all the time.

You are not alone. But Janine Cross sucks.
posted by amber_dale at 5:11 PM on January 23, 2007

Turns out I'm not a superhero after all.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:12 PM on January 23, 2007

I also remember where things were on pages.
posted by odinsdream at 5:23 PM on January 23, 2007

I do it too, and my experience has been similar to jamaro's. I'm terrible with names, but if I write something down I'll remember it forever.

I was actually just complaining to my husband last night about a related pet peeve. I work in a knitting shop, and at least once a day I'm faced with a customer that takes AGES to flip through a book and find the pattern they want to make. I literally have to grit my teeth as they flip randomly back and forth before finally going back to the beginning to flip page by page. I never have this problem. I can always remember where on the page and where in a book something is located. It's hard to remember to be patient with non-visual people.
posted by web-goddess at 5:23 PM on January 23, 2007

I have this too. I also find (and have amazed -- or sometimes terrified -- various friends and family members) that I often remember conversations to a startlingly accurate degree, as long as the conversation is tied a clear visual memory. That is, the more visual details of the conversation's setting I can recall (e.g., we were on a train going home after work; the train was crowded, and my friend was wearing an orange shirt and brown scarf, with the late autumn light coming through the window on his left, etc.), the more details of the conversation's narrative I can retain.
posted by scody at 5:36 PM on January 23, 2007

Turns out I'm not a superhero after all.

Back to hanging out at the nuke plant for you.

My memory works pretty much like yours.
posted by tkolar at 5:41 PM on January 23, 2007

I do the location-on-the-page thing too, but fwiw, my reading speed is decidedly average. So I don't think those two are necessarily correlated. Otherwise, ditto jamaro's experience.
posted by miagaille at 5:52 PM on January 23, 2007

I suppose I'm a visual learner too. I can remember lines in books based on their location like you can. I also have tendancies like scody does, where these tendancies show up outside of reading. Anytime I make a note about something, as I'm trying to recall what the note said, I visualize what kind of paper it was written on and in what kind/color of pen. I remember details about my surroundings that surprise my SO and friends. I can also find things based on what I remember seeing them with last, instead of where I last saw the sought object. When I started keeping a journal, I would write everything I could remember about a situation - placement of people, lighting, colors etc. As I've kept a journal for about ten years, I almost think I've trained myself to pick up these sort of details.
posted by youngergirl44 at 5:56 PM on January 23, 2007

Me too.

The whole chunking thing cuts two ways, though. The first time I launched into reading "Titus Groan" I was a hundred pages in when I realized I had no real idea what was going on; the prose is dense and, like an excellent Christmas pudding, requires time to digest. I went back to the start and took it slowly, deliberately stopping at the end of each paragraph to let the feel of the thing sink in.

It would usually take me a day to get through a book that size. Titus took me ten, and it stands out as one of the most intensely enjoyable reading experiences I've ever had.
posted by flabdablet at 5:57 PM on January 23, 2007

I read like this, as well. I also have to write something down so that I'll remember it.
posted by mamaquita at 6:15 PM on January 23, 2007

Personally, I can recite off details about the exact day I discovered what was to become an obsession of mine, or about the day I met an interesting and unique friend, six days later. The two being so close together, and centered around a third memorable day (September 9, 1999), it's simply burned into my mind.

You probably have a very good memory, and excellent reading comprehension. So, you may be abnormally acute, but not superhuman. There's also the matter of something striking being simply memorable. Dragon masturbation is not something easily forgotten, as much as you may wish it was.
posted by Saydur at 6:16 PM on January 23, 2007

a la flabdablet, I find that my excessively quick reading often leaves something to be desired. I've been reading Lemony Snicket with my daughter, and was so eager to find out what happened in the final book that I read the entire thing at the bookstore before coming home. Later, reading it out loud to her, I realized that I'd missed entire plot points. Books on tape are good for this, although for fast readers they can go maddeningly slow at times.
posted by vraxoin at 6:18 PM on January 23, 2007

I can sometimes do this. When I get in to the flow of reading I stop seeing the page and the words in front of me and begin to only see what the words are describing. I enter the world of the book until my concentration is interrupted. I can go usually for an hour before I snap out of it, so if that is happening then I have no idea where any of the words I just read are, but if it's not then I can usually remember the location.
posted by JackarypQQ at 6:25 PM on January 23, 2007

Thanks everyone, this has been interesting. I'm also in a visual arts field, forget people's names literally seconds after I'm introduced to them (almost like I wasn't paying attention at all), and creep my friends out by remembering strange, minute, details of events that must make them think I am a stalker (I actually self-censor sometimes when people ask me if I remember things).

However it was Naomi Novik, not Janine Cross. But now I now have another trashy novelist to read (after making sure to tear the front cover off).
posted by nathancaswell at 6:33 PM on January 23, 2007

Heh, I do this as well, and I could have written Jamaro's post. :)

However, despite my good visual memory, I have difficulty remembering faces. Everything else visual, no problem; but faces are a blur in my memory. Which makes matching names to faces a problem as well. (I posted about this once.)

The brain really does work in interesting ways.
posted by litlnemo at 6:53 PM on January 23, 2007

ditto.
i'm a visual learner, remember placement of text in a book, read abnormally quickly, miss chunks sometimes, and remember extraordinary details about people I regularly associate with, and almost less than nothing about acquaintances. And strangely, I'm studying to enter a visual field of work, but what I'm struggling with is the work involved in the background / non-visual side. I'm also studying externally so i don't have to worry about not listening in lectures.
posted by b33j at 6:56 PM on January 23, 2007

If I forgot a piece of information on a test, I have to mentally picture the page layout and diagrams on which I could find the piece of information -- it's part of the reason why I doodle on every page, it helps me remember the information better (the other part being that I doodle on everything I own). Barring then, I need to remember the setting I was in when I learned it (what was I listening to?).

Yeah, visual learner in visual arts. Glad to see I'm not alone!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:12 PM on January 23, 2007

Another fast reader here. I realized I read from punctuation point to punctuation point when I tried to read a stream-of-consciousness novel: had to slow down and read it word by word. I can also find a particular section/line in a book, even if I've read it years ago.
posted by sfkiddo at 8:25 PM on January 23, 2007

If the book is the same I know where on the page the target text is. If it is a different copy and is re-set or in a different format I know roughly how many pages along the text should be. In those cases I have to recall where the target text belongs in the story. This is a little more difficult with books like Slaughterhouse-Five than it is with a linear narrative.

I'm 49 and recently got another copy of the Platt and Munk (1960) edition of "Jack London Stories", which I last had in my hands when I was eight. Everything is where I recall its being.
posted by jet_silver at 8:50 PM on January 23, 2007

i remember locations pn pages too.
i exploit the when i buy a day planner- i need ones that show the whole week at a single pageview, so i can remember if i had an unusual appointment by where on the page it is. this means that those planners that show a single day per page, or two days per page, don't work for me- i need to see the each day in relation to the week, so i can visually remember that wednesday is just above the half-way point in the page view, and so on.
posted by twistofrhyme at 8:52 PM on January 23, 2007

I read the same way, but I've noticed that as I write more, I take more time to examine the structure and craft in a book, which slows me down.
posted by sugarfish at 9:06 PM on January 23, 2007

Metafilter is not representative of the general populous and furthermore this question is subject to self selection bias. I do not read like this, I know plenty of people like me and it took me forever to read this thread. Therefore you are all freaks.
posted by |n$eCur3 at 9:07 PM on January 23, 2007

I also remember locations on a page. So does my mom. I can also remember page numbers if I've been paying attention. When I majored in English in university, this came in very handy for in-class essays!

I suspect only the people who read this way will respond to this thread. Except for In$eCur3. :)
posted by acoutu at 9:11 PM on January 23, 2007

I've always read that way and it drives me crazy when I'm trying to find a quote in a different edition of a book than the one I've read since the pages don't match up the same way visually.

Personally, I have a very acute visual memory, but a very very poor memory for numbers, directions, or things that have actually happened to me. I can tell you where everything in my messy living room is, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what I'd had for breakfast yesterday.

My mad visual skillz are often in demand by others, especially in the "Have you seen my sock/phone/pants" department.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:23 PM on January 23, 2007

It could be your learning style. At least, that's how I explain my ability to do this. While I don't read extremely fast, I can usually remember a phrase's location on the page by visualizing it's orientation: right side, two thirds down the page, preceded by two skinny paragraphs. Your friend may have an auditory or tactile learning style.
posted by rhapsodie at 9:39 PM on January 23, 2007

I read slowly. Quite slowly, I think. But my retention is amazing, and I too remember page locations for choice bits.

However, I did take a speed reading course in college, and was able to increase my speed amazingly. I could test fine on the material read fast. But, I couldn't tell you much about it (the quizes were multiple guess, of course). I hate reading fast!

I am the sort of person who reads most novels twice. The first time is to get the plot and conclusion. The second time is to enjoy the writing and story development, now that I'm not in a hurry to find out what happens next.

Whatever my ability may be with regards to text, my ability with sound is indeed extreme. I will recognize voices quicker than faces. I am quite good at identifying different synths used in a piece of music (or at least I was, a couple generations of equipment ago).

I also am very good at remembering the placement of items in a room, when I return to the room in the dark. I do this all the time. This also makes me the resident thing-finder at home, because I remember where I last saw something.
posted by Goofyy at 1:41 AM on January 24, 2007

Yeah, I am the same way. And like others, I forget names, faces, and chunks of conversations. I also have an absurdly poor sense of direction--I can remember how roads looked on maps but for whatever reason I have a hard time translating that to the real world. (Not sure if that's related.)
posted by miss tea at 4:24 AM on January 24, 2007

I can easily remember locations of words. For example, it worked better for me to memorize GRE vocabulary by making lists of words and definitions (rather than flashcards). Then I could picture where each word and definition were on the page (relative to the other words). A spatial mnemonic if you will.
posted by unknowncommand at 5:54 AM on January 24, 2007

I can remember locations of words, especially if it is an unusual word, or if it was notable for some personal reason. But I have a terrible memory for everything else.
posted by eggplantia5 at 6:56 AM on January 24, 2007

It isn't necessarily tied to reading in chunks, I think. Or even being visual beyond words. I don't and am not, but I do remember where in a book something is, and where on a page. I am just visual with words. (Also, that is one annoying thing about jamaro's test and the eight learning styles--one style is linguistic? Hearing and seeing words are totally different.)
posted by dame at 8:01 AM on January 24, 2007

I can read quickly by absorbing sentences or even paragraphs at a time, but I might miss small details if I read for an extended period that way. I can't remember where on a page something happened.

My visual recognition skills for objects, on the other hand, has become horrible lately. I stared into a closet that had a bottle of aspirin in it the other day and gave up looking for it, only to realize that I had seen the bottle but could not remember where it was on the shelf.
posted by mikeh at 8:05 AM on January 24, 2007

I am the boyfriend, and I do indeed recall where on a page something happened. I also remember where it is in the book, almost as if the events physically took place upon that page. This gets me in trouble if a story takes place at a real location, as the orientation in my mind is related to the orientation of my body when I read the story, which is not necessarily the orientation of the settings in real life.Regarding spatial memory, see this question I posted last summer, where I mention in the comments about the specific thing you're asking about.
posted by notsnot at 8:32 AM on January 24, 2007

I'm unique too(!), and like flibbertigibbet I often recall information from lectures, lines for plays etc. by reference to a mental image of the page, to the extent that my revision/learning technique begins with speed-reading a set of notes, then taking a mental photo of each page, then writing bullet points on them from memory.

Also, when someone gives me a number to remember and I can't write it down as they speak, I seem to memorise the sound (rather than making a mental image of the number) and consciously avoid picturing it. I then 'play back' the sound memory when I want to write it down. Weird? Normal? I've never tested how long I can store a number like this, but it isn't very long, ~5 minutes probably.
posted by emtanner at 11:16 AM on January 24, 2007

I used to be able to open the Dungeon Master's Guide (2nd ed.) in my head and see the words gleaming on the page. I could read them from the book in my head as easily as from the book that my stunned and annoyed, but very tolerant, friends were looking at across the table.

Can't do that anymore. I think the brain really starts falling apart around age 18 or so.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:57 PM on January 24, 2007

That's funny you ask, I just realized that can read a couple hundred pages in 2 hours and then outline it later. I dont know why we're able to read faster, but I've always been able to retain info like that, it must go hand in hand.
Have you ever been tested to see if you have a photographic memory? I accidentally memorized a page from my text book in 5th grade and rewrote it on a test- Obviously I was accused of cheating and they made me get tested to prove my story... Apparently you can have a near-photographic memory (I can only remember words but not details in an image), but since it's not perfect you might not realize it.
posted by CAnneDC at 2:50 PM on January 24, 2007