Szereszewski – Mnemonic Genius

The article describes one of the most interesting cases of mnemonic genius, Salomon Szereszewski. He was endowed with photographic memory – visual memory, characterized with remarkable clarity and durability. In addition, Szereszewski also had vast synaesthetic capabilities, consisting in joining together various sensory impressions, which also strongly infl uences better memorizing. Being equipped with such perfect memory involves, however, many consequences hindering everyday functioning. Szereszewski had great diffi culties in remembering abstract words which cannot be translated into images, and struggled with the problem of having too big amounts of unnecessary information. Szereszewski tried to invent various ways of getting rid of useless data, but attempts at forgetting anything often failed.

Szereszewski – Mnemonic Genius

The article describes one of the most interesting cases of mnemonic genius, Salomon Szereszewski. He was endowed with photographic memory – visual memory, characterized with remarkable clarity and durability. In addition, Szereszewski also had vast synaesthetic capabilities, consisting in joining together various sensory impressions, which also strongly infl uences better memorizing. Being equipped with such perfect memory involves, however, many consequences hindering everyday functioning. Szereszewski had great diffi culties in remembering abstract words which cannot be translated into images, and struggled with the problem of having too big amounts of unnecessary information. Szereszewski tried to invent various ways of getting rid of useless data, but attempts at forgetting anything often failed.