THE DEFINITION OF EIDETIC IMAGERY

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Before one can decide to study eidetic imagery, it is important to know precisely what eidetic imagery is. According to Ralph Haber, "Historically, the only definition of eidetic imagery is phenomenological - a description by the subject of what he is seeing."

Today's definitions tend to be a little more precise. Giray et al. defined the term as

a positively colored visual image, aroused and maintained by scanning of the represented stimulus object, phenomenally located in or in front of the plane of the original stimulus object, and persisting for a long period of time (greater than 40 seconds). This definition is said to cover the typographic eidetic according to Ahsen (1977a), who defines the structural eidetic as more spontaneous and not necessarily dependent on a previous experience of an actual stimulus and is seen inside the mind in the literal sense of the word.

According to Gray and Gummerman, the typical definition is

the ability to retain an accurate, detailed visual image of a complex scene or pattern (sometimes popularly known as photographic memory) or the ability, posessed by a minority of people, to 'see' an image that is an exact copy of the original sensory experience.
While the first definition is a bit more exact than the second, both mean that a person who posesses eidetic imagery is able to "see" and describe an image in great detail after that image has been removed from their sight, and can perform this feat for a fairly extensive period of time. These definitions are the basis for the research being done on eidetic imagery today.