<P> The word eidetic comes from the Greek word εἶδος (pronounced (êːdos), eidos, "seen"). </P> <P> The terms eidetic memory and photographic memory are commonly used interchangeably, but they are also distinguished . Scholar Annette Kujawski Taylor stated, "In eidetic memory, a person has an almost faithful mental image snapshot or photograph of an event in their memory . However, eidetic memory is not limited to visual aspects of memory and includes auditory memories as well as various sensory aspects across a range of stimuli associated with a visual image ." Author Andrew Hudmon commented: "Examples of people with a photographic - like memory are rare . Eidetic imagery is the ability to remember an image in so much detail, clarity, and accuracy that it is as though the image were still being perceived . It is not perfect, as it is subject to distortions and additions (like episodic memory), and vocalization interferes with the memory ." </P> <P> "Eidetikers", as those who possess this ability are called, report a vivid afterimage that lingers in the visual field with their eyes appearing to scan across the image as it is described . Contrary to ordinary mental imagery, eidetic images are externally projected, experienced as "out there" rather than in the mind . Vividness and stability of the image begins to fade within minutes after the removal of the visual stimulus . Lilienfeld et al. stated, "People with eidetic memory can supposedly hold a visual image in their mind with such clarity that they can describe it perfectly or almost perfectly (...), just as we can describe the details of a painting immediately in front of us with near perfect accuracy ." </P> <P> By contrast, photographic memory may be defined as the ability to recall pages of text, numbers, or similar, in great detail, without the visualization that comes with eidetic memory . It may be described as the ability to briefly look at a page of information and then recite it perfectly from memory . This type of ability has never been proven to exist and is considered popular myth . </P>

What percentage of the population has a photographic memory