176 replies to this topic

[Mr Matsubayashi]

IGF-II and Memory

http://igf-ii-memory.weebly.com/

 

IGF-II and Cerebrolysin

http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3925781/

 

Straight IGF-II

http://www.iron-drag...a05909ea2b3c1d5

 

Vasopressin and Memory

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/10074809

[Nootropos]

I young, between 10 to 15 old was eidetic memory, photographically learning the school subjects. After suffering anxiety and take medication that memory was fading.

I feel frustrated now that I do not. Seeking a magic formula. If anyone knows tell me what is

Edited by Nootropos, 28 September 2014 - 04:20 PM.

[Frigo]

I young, between 10 to 15 old was eidetic memory, photographically learning the school subjects. After suffering anxiety and take medication that memory was fading.

I feel frustrated now that I do not. Seeking a magic formula. If anyone knows tell me what is

 

What medication did you take?

[Nootropos]

What medication did you take?

I took fluvoxamine, alprazolam (SSRI and benzodiazepines), among others for long periods of time.

Maybe it was anxiety or medication which deteriorated that memory, maybe cortisol and effects on hippocampus.

Edited by Nootropos, 28 September 2014 - 08:32 PM.

[fairy]

Interesting anecdotal report: [...]

 
I don't know if it is worth trying: http://goo.gl/2RWXFN. Interesting comments of people with exceptional auditory memory: http://goo.gl/QOSIVQ. Seems like you can find a recurring pattern in their lifes!

[Grandmaster]

What about PKR inhibitor? I have read that it may give eidetic memory, but i dont see any reviews

[fairy]

BUMP!

To all of you who have/have experienced eidetic memory: can you describe what actually happens? Sometimes in the morning while I'm still resting with eyes closed I have glimpses of vivid images. Not 100% accurate but still nothing I can achieve while wide awake. Once they appear they can feel *steady* so I can move my eyes through the details, like in real life.

Sadly if I try to control them or increase definition they fade, which happens anyway after a few seconds or less. One morning minutes prior to wake I had the most amazing dream. Leaving the other senses aside I managed to clear it up at the point I couldn't tell the difference between dream and reality considering the accuracy of what I saw and not for example the field of view.

 

When I study something from a book I can say vaguely how a page appears, but I can't read the text from memory. I wonder If people with superb visual memory are able to retrieve such information through a similar but perfected *mechanism*. The first and easiest step would then be to commit to lucid dreaming and experiment with a target page. I'll give it a try.

[middpanther88]

I'm interested in this as well.

[Grandmaster]

Eidetic memory is one of greatest gifts that human can achieve. Imagine memorizing whole page of text at single glance like John Von Neumann and the ability to quote it back verbatim. Development of eidetic memory is one of my goals... Maybe its possible who knows, maybe its possible with desmopressin but its risky and side effects are serious. Sometimes i can recall some photo or text nearly photographically but accidentally and rarely not when i want to.

 

 

[arbettor]

BUMP!

To all of you who have/have experienced eidetic memory: can you describe what actually happens? Sometimes in the morning while I'm still resting with eyes closed I have glimpses of vivid images. Not 100% accurate but still nothing I can achieve while wide awake. Once they appear they can feel *steady* so I can move my eyes through the details, like in real life.

Sadly if I try to control them or increase definition they fade, which happens anyway after a few seconds or less. One morning minutes prior to wake I had the most amazing dream. Leaving the other senses aside I managed to clear it up at the point I couldn't tell the difference between dream and reality considering the accuracy of what I saw and not for example the field of view.

 

When I study something from a book I can say vaguely how a page appears, but I can't read the text from memory. I wonder If people with superb visual memory are able to retrieve such information through a similar but perfected *mechanism*. The first and easiest step would then be to commit to lucid dreaming and experiment with a target page. I'll give it a try.

 

I had an editetic memory earlier on in my life. In middle school and early years of highschool I would be accused of cheating because I would answer short answer questions word for word. History is where I excelled at. I would read the chapters the test would be the night before and then 10minutes prior to the start of the exam. I would just have the answers when it came to identification. I'd put my pencil down and word after word would just flow through my mind and appear on paper before me. I would actually almost consider it a trance state. My head would go into the position where it was when I was reading the text. If something I read in the textbook was on the left hand side pages, when answering that question on the test, my head would find itself in the same position and the juices would just flow and extend out onto the paper in front of me. It took me some time to figure out that was happening. First exams with new teachers would cause them to call me out and tell me to keep my head straight because I was giving the appearance of cheating.

 

I could close my eyes and sound out sentence by sentence up to a paragraph, and see those words like lyrics or captions fly across the theater screen in my mind. I used to be able to also remember 40 answer choices on a scantron test. Just a vivid photograph of the sheet. Mental long multiplication was very simple as well and I didn't even know any of the mental math shortcuts. I would just see the numbers in front me being carried and added.

 

I didn't have this ability in my earlier years or atleast I wasn't as aware of it. I was learning a new language (immigrant), and it seemed to diminish when puberty came along, and then disappear entirely by my 4th year of high school. Nowadays, the extent of my memory is being able to describe what a person wore and quote them on what they said. nothing special and quite useless for what I plan to do.

[Mr Matsubayashi]

It seems eidetic memory is common in children but they grow out of it so to speak.

 

Understanding the mechanism of vasopressin might hold a key. This hormone is created in the pituitary from precursor secreted by the hypothalamus and on it's own through intranasal application it has profound effects on memory albeit for a short while.

 

The size of certain brain structures has been correlated with memory performance, maybe some stimulants affect these structures and send them into overdrive but unless you're genetically gifted it's not possible to have consistent great memory? These are just thoughts. 

 

There are also behavioral aspects of memory (from my own experience)

 

Beneficial (When life has LEGS?):

Love

Excitement

Goals

Social Interaction

 

Detrimental:

Exhaustion

Depression

Masturbation

Edited by Mr Matsubayashi, 06 January 2015 - 11:29 AM.

[Lawrence van Coon]

Wow! Very interesting thread and great responses, thus far. Definitely interested in reading further responses!

I bet it's hot where you live. Has anyone been plagued with skin skin problems, such as, psoriasis or eczema. Plagued is probably an overdramatic word, but anyone out there notice skin problems flaring up when using, especially: Aniracetam, Couleracetam? 

[Rin Tohsaka]

Nice to see CDP choline there (aka citicoline). I think it's severely underrated. It actually makes you smarter in the right/healthy ways

[Ok555]

I took levetiracetam, there is no way it can improve your memory, it works just like any other anticonvulsants: drowsiness, brainfog and memory deterioration.

[Grandmaster]

Originally Posted by VelocideX

I'll chip in my 2c. I've taken several courses of selegiline. You do get a mild amphetamine effect in the first few days / week, but that tends to wear off. When I say mild, I do mean mild.

After about 2.5 weeks of selgiline (and NOT drinking -- this is important), something truly hectic happens to my memory. My memory slowly improve for 2.5 weeks or so, but overnight my memory becomes essentially eidetic/photographic.

Now when I say this, I mean I can memorise enormous quantities of information with essentially zero trouble.

For example: I memorised 212 pages of statistical physics notes in two days, and got 97% on the exam. I memorised 180 pages of notes on theoretical quantum mechanics in two and a bit days and got 98% on the exam.

The effect ceases within a few days of stopping the selegiline, and is (interestingly) destroyed by drinking. I went out and had half a bottle of wine one night, and the effect vanished for 3 days, then returned.

 

 

[Aurel]

What dosage and form (patch?) of selegiline did he take?

[allstargajo]

There's a member here, 3AlarmLampscooter, that could probably provide some insight regarding selegiline. 

 

Regardless, I'm also interested in this

 

What dosage and form (patch?) of selegiline did he take?

 

[FW900]

I've taken selegiline but have not found it to have much of an impact on memory. Motivation yes. Memory, maybe a slight increase in recall.

[allstargajo]

I've taken selegiline ...

 

Using what dosage and form?

[Grandmaster]

What dosage and form (patch?) of selegiline did he take?

 

He didnt write the dosage and form of it.  He wrote "I realise that this could be some sort of placebo effect, but if it is, it's stronger than anything else I've ever encountered. I never expected it the first time it happened either. I've never encountered such a memory effect from any other nootropic drug either."   Its post from 2006 btw. I never have used selegiline so i dont have opinion about it.

Edited by Grandmaster, 30 January 2015 - 05:22 PM.

[Grandmaster]

Almost 3 moths has passed since the last reply and thats why I refresh the topic because it is very interesting to me, and maybe someone knows something more about it.

[middpanther88]

I'm curious still as well!

[thereisway]

you wont crack this! maybe in 2030

[thereisway]

you wont crack this! maybe in 2030

The popular culture concept of “photographic memory,” where someone can briefly look at a page of text and then recite it perfectly from memory, is not the same as seeing eidetic images, and photographic memory has never been demonstrated to exist.^[6][7]

 

Eidetic memory is the ability to recall images in great detail after only a few minutes of exposure. It is found in early childhood (between 2 percent and 10 percent of that age group) and is unconnected with the person's intelligence level. Like other memories, they are often subject to unintended alterations usually because of outside influences (such as the way an adult may ask a query about a memory). If the ability is not nurtured it usually begins to fade after the age of 6, perhaps as growing verbal skills alter the memory process.^[4][5]

 

^{quoted from wikipedia}

 

Topic should read Eidetic memory, Cracking the formula. 

this I might agree with.

 

as the whole thing abt photographic memory might be a scam

Edited by thereisway, 22 April 2015 - 11:37 AM.

[Jochen]

*must resist ... ah screw it ...*

completely off topic, but maybe you should change your name to <ThereIsNoWay> thereisway ? :-)

 

Kindly take this as it was meant ... a joke, and this in no way a post to diminish the value of your posts.

 

I think it is important not to lose ourselves too much in semantic discussions.

 

That said I do prefer the term eidetic memory, as recall can also be auditory, smell or whatever sense is engaged (the more the merrier for recall).

 

I have one uncle that for one reason or another have an eidetic memory (they can recall all details of events, remember all details they have read in books), and this without being an (idiot) savant. Of course this is purely anecdotal and is no scientific proof whatsoever. This uncle was born with it (from what I understand) and grew up to be a civil engineer and inventor later in life. He is long retired now.

[Grandmaster]

Im still working on cracking eidetic memory because having it would give me ability to memorize vast amount of historical informations in a short span of time. To everyone saying that the eidetic memory is fictional, theres text about my idol John Von Neumann

At the age of six, he was able to exchange jokes with his father in classical Greek. The Neumann family sometimes entertained guests with demonstrations of Johnny's ability to memorise phone books. A guest would select a page and column of the phone book at random. Young Johnny read the column over a few times, then handed the book back to the guest. He could answer any question put to him (who has number such and such?) or recite names, addresses, and numbers in order.

Also Herman Goldstine writes: "One of his remarkable abilities was his power of absolute recall. As far as I could tell, von Neumann was able on once reading a book or article to quote it back verbatim; moreover, he could do it years later without hesitation. He could also translate it at no diminution in speed from its original language into English. On one occasion I tested his ability by asking him to tell me how "A tale of two cities" started. Whereupon, without any pause, he immediately began to recite the first chapter and continued until asked to stop after about ten or fifteen minutes"

How its possible without having eidetic memory? To memorize phone book page- all numbers and names and then quote it back verbatim? Mnemonic system? Memory palace? To memorize whole book verbatim and quoting it backwards, his palace would had to have hundreds of rooms and its nearly impossible to do that with many books. Especially that he did that also when he was very young- he read the entire 44-volume universal history series in German and memorized it as a boy. A professor of history whose expertise was in the Byzantine empire, said that when he talked to JvN he realized JvN knew more about the subject than he did. So eidetic memory is possible to have, we just have to work hard on cracking its secret.

[resveratrol_guy]

Perhaps there's actually some hope here...

First of all, I think it's crystal clear that JvN's abilities did not result from some sort of neurologically superior diet, better exercise, better sleep, or etc. (And in his time, I don't even think "nootropic" was word.) We've tested those interventions extensively, and they would never result in such a superhuman capability, despite their benefits.

And I think you're right: mnemonic memory techiques would not have sufficed because his immediate recall would never have permitted sufficient time for encoding. So by Occam's razor, this sounds like outright visual memory encoding, nothing more or less. I think most of us have a subset of this capability, in that we can remember visual snippets of our lives with vivid clarity. JvM's critical distinction was that he could do this with much greater consistency, esentially at will.

So then this quest might be easier than it would appear, because the only remaining plausible explanation is a genetic abberation. Just as studying centenarians revealed a few intrumental genes, surely doing the same with eidetically endowed individuals would do the same. Furthermore, based on the population fraction of eidetic individuals, we can approximate the number of genes involved. I'm guestimating 3.

Then we could develop drugs to mimic their effects. Eventually, we could use techniques like those employed by BioViva to alter them in vivo. What's exciting about all this is that it involves no innovation whatsoever. It's all more-or-less established science, and all we're missing is the genetic database large enough to reveal the answer. Granted, the side effects of such treatment are entirely unknown, but at least, we could in principle just do it tomorrow, given the identity of the genes.

 

Now, good luck getting 23andMe to work with you...

 

[Junk Master]

Honestly, NOT THAT I RECOMMEND IT, but for someone without addictive tendencies, and without much previous experience with it, I doubt there is anything better for just chewing through text and remembering it than pharm grade amphetamine.

 

Problem is state dependent learning and tolerance; plus, disruption of sleep/sleep architecture.  It's a road to no where but I can still remember, over 20 years ago, reading an entire college biology book in a night with perfect recall...

 

...though looking back, I might have been just a wee hypomanic at the time, which could have enhanced the experience.

 

Never experienced anything like it since.

[Grandmaster]

Over month has passed since the last reply and thats why I refresh the topic because it is very interesting to me, and maybe someone knows something more about it.

[Mr Matsubayashi]

http://www.molecularbrain.com/content

 

http://www.molecular...6-6606-5-14.pdf

 

 

I believe these researchers are looking for the answer. Might make an interesting read.