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the brain. Another cause could lie in behavioral processes, which include retroactive interference, altered conditions during remembering, and repression. It is pointed out that interpretation can affect or distort memory. This accounts for inaccurate witnessing, where the facts reported are the results of observation plus interpretation. This includes on-the-spot interpretation, which happens almost without the observer's awareness, and the subtle changes that occur in the course of thinking about the event later. The memory becomes clouded and colored by myriad influences. Hunter says the hypnagogic state (Reverie Period) just between waking and sleeping, is the time the subject is particularly rich in imagery, which is frequent and vivid. An interesting point is made about the difference between memory and the use of knowledge. It has been noted that along with the development of skill in abstract thinking there is a decrease in imaging ability. If there is a correlation between imaging ability, as there appears to be, and receptivity in general, are we then, to assume that analytical thinking tends to inhibit the capacity for quick rote memorizing? This leads on to the phenomenon known as photographic memory. Hunter tells us it is an incorrect term, that this kind of memory isn't really photographic. It is actually a form of visual imaging, very strong in children, but rare among adults. This capacity is known among the researchers as eidetic memory—a high degree of visual imaging, but not totally photographic in that everything that is seen is registered, no matter how |
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