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Posted By: Homo Loquens eidetic - 01/15/06 10:20 AM
Quote:


eidetic adjective

Psychology

relating to or denoting mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible; noun: a person able to form or recall eidetic images.

ORIGIN 1920s: coined in German from Greek eidetikos, from eidos ‘form.’




Quote:

eidetic

1. Relating to the power of visualization of and memory for objects previously seen which reaches its height in children aged 8 to 10.

2. A person possessing this power to a high degree.

Origin: G. Eidon, saw (aorist of verb)

(05 Mar 2000)



Do you think this refers to a photographic memory or a kind of intrapsychic hallucination?
Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: eidetic - 01/15/06 11:14 AM
I've always used it as photographic memory.
Posted By: Homo Loquens Re: eidetic - 01/15/06 11:29 AM
The first definition is from the Oxford Dictionary of English, the second from the Online Medical Dictionary.

The difference between the two suggests there might be a technical usage and a pedestrian usage. Such as, "For Pisser Burke the skirl of bagpipes evoked an eidetic mental picture of the Lowlands", or "Subject A suffered from diminished eidetic memory retention"

It says the word was coined. It would be helpful to know who coined it and why.
Posted By: Faldage Re: eidetic - 01/15/06 02:05 PM
Quote:



It says the word was coined. It would be helpful to know who coined it and why.



A quick google reveals nothing much about the coining. Wordorigins would be a better place to ask this question.
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