Superboosting visual memory

[JBeukema]

A Drug That Could Give You Perfect Visual Memory - Memory-enhancing drugs - io9

 

[G.T.]

This could either be a good ability, or a bad one. Think really pudgy teen-aged chicks who insist on wearing belly shirts.

 

[Diuretic]

Visual memory is localised in the cortex?

 

[JBeukema]

Visual memory is localised in the cortex?

Their experiments seem to suggest so. I'm not familiar enough w/ neurology to say anything beyond that, though.

 

[N4mddissent]

I don't know if a similar effect would result from perfect visual memory, but I heard a story about problems with perfect memory. If I could remember the source I would link to it, but I can't. Sorry.

Basically it was a case study of a woman with near-perfect memory and it caused some severe drawbacks. It was difficult to prioritize and retrieve information. For instance, she couldn't just think back to significant events during her day or week, but instead every moment of every day was still there and she had to sift through all of it to find important bits of information she was looking for. Remember, our chemical system of thought is much slower than the electron based system in a computer. Imagine trying to remember what you had for dinner last Friday and having the "hard drive busy" light on for quite a while.

I am all for human enhancement, but I imagine there will be unforeseen difficulties along the way. Keep hoping though.