The Montessori Home: Early Learning - Photographic Memory and the Image Brain

PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY AND THE IMAGE BRAIN

Information for this article is taken from the book "Babies Are Geniuses" by Dr. Makoto Shichida, world-renowned founder of over 350 Preschool Child Academies in Japan.

Another name for the right hemisphere of the brain is the image brain. According to Dr. Makoto Shichida of Japan, it is this part of the brain by which we see when we are imagining or dreaming. Furthermore, the right brain can create mental images from information gotten from the cells of the body which is the basis for extra sensory perception.

Having a photographic memory allows immediate access to information stored in the memory. The person with a photographic memory can recall any information from any book he has read or page he has seen. Each page can be viewed on the screen of his mind as if it were a snapshot.

Because the right and left brain hemispheres function as opposites they also compliment each other. The left brain is conscious and logical, takes in information slowly and likes repetition. The right brain is subconscious and intuitive, takes in information quickly and requires no repetition.

Presenting information slowly and repetitively exercises the left brain, while flashing information to a child quickly stimulates the right brain.

By age six or seven the left brain is dominant, but before age six there is a window of opportunity where the right brain is dominant. Shichida says that presenting large amounts of information at a fast pace to infants, toddlers and preschoolers stimulates the right brain and can activate photographic memory.

Research shows that young children benefit from being shown flashcards such as phonograms, word cards and math cards if sessions are happy, relaxed and brief, and cards are presented quickly. Material can always be new and interesting with different pictures, words, facts or problems.

If you want your baby to develop a photographic memory and other right brain abilities that include speed-reading and computer-like calculating ability, try using flashcards.