The most basic elements of visual memory are length and angle. And if your intention is to train yours, it’s best to begin with them. Would you like to see how good your visual memory is right now? Shall we play a game?
Below you will notice a rectangular box. You’ll also see three circular buttons and a 5-second time indicator.
When you select ‘Start’, a red line will appear and the timer’s duration will begin counting down. During the display time, try to memorize the line’s length and angle. Once the time finishes counting down, the red line will disappear and a green line with a green circle on its right end will appear.
Your task, using the green circle, is to reproduce the length and angle of the red line from memory.
Once you’ve made your guess, select the ‘Check’ button to see how close you were. If you’d like to play again, select ‘Reset’ and then ‘Start’ once again.
Note:
The game was produced with laptops and desktops in mind. While it does function on touch sensitive devices, you may find it difficult to select the green handle.
How did you do? Not too bad I suspect.
But there are few straight lines in nature. Just imagine if the line was a complex curve or shape. Or how about a person’s face?
The goal of memory drawing is to accurately recall the things you see only briefly as well as aspects of the things you see for extended periods (like a plaster cast, or a model posing for a portrait).
Why?
Because every time you look at your paper or canvas you have to take your eyes off of your subject. And that means you have to rely entirely on your visual memory. It only makes sense to train it.
