Searches for "photographic memory training" turn up a lot of apps and courses, but not much explanation of where the method underneath them actually comes from, or what it's realistically training. This article covers both: the century-old technique behind flash-recall exercises, why typing what you saw works better than just looking at it again, and an honest answer to whether any of this gives you a "photographic memory."
What is a flash (tachistoscope) reading exercise?
A tachistoscope is a device that displays an image or text for a very brief, controlled interval (originally a mechanical shutter, today just a timed flash on a screen). The idea is simple: show something for a fraction of a second, then ask the viewer to report what they saw, forcing the eye and brain to extract as much information as possible from a single, short exposure.
Tachistoscopes have two well-documented histories that both feed directly into modern flash-recall training. Psychologist Samuel Renshaw used them during World War II to train fighter pilots and aircraft spotters to identify enemy versus friendly aircraft silhouettes from a near-instant glimpse, a skill where hesitation was costly. Separately, from the 1930s onward and especially in 1960s public schools, tachistoscopes were used as a speed-reading aid, flashing words or phrases briefly to train readers to take in more text per glance instead of reading letter-by-letter.[1]
A flash-recall app like Speed Reading Game is a direct digital descendant of that same idea: a short character string flashes on screen, and your job is to capture it in that one glance.
Why typing what you saw works better than just reading it again
The reason the exercise asks you to type the text back, rather than just flashing it and moving on, comes down to a well-studied effect in memory research: retrieving information actively strengthens memory far more than passively re-exposing yourself to it. This is sometimes called the testing effect or retrieval practice, the same principle behind flashcards outperforming re-reading a textbook. Studies comparing repeated testing against repeated studying consistently find that the act of retrieval itself, not just review, is what drives better retention.[2]
Typing back what you just saw is retrieval practice applied to visual span: you're not just looking at characters, you're forced to hold them in working memory and reproduce them: a meaningfully harder and more effective task than passive viewing.
Does this give you a "photographic memory"?
Here's the honest answer: not in the literal sense. True eidetic memory (the ability to recall an image with photograph-like precision after a single glance) is rare, mostly studied in young children, and not something flash-recall exercises are known to produce in adults. What this kind of training does reliably do is stretch your visual span (how many characters you can accurately capture per glance) and exercise your working memory (how well you hold and reproduce what you just perceived). That's what most people are actually picturing when they think of "photographic memory" in everyday conversation.
It's also worth being clear-eyed about memory training research generally: while short-term gains on the trained task itself are well documented, evidence that those gains transfer broadly to unrelated cognitive tasks is contested, and gains without continued practice tend not to hold.[3] The realistic claim is narrower than "photographic memory," but it's also real and measurable: consistent flash-and-type practice does improve how much text you take in per glance and how quickly you can act on it, which is exactly what carries over into faster ordinary reading.
Putting the method into practice
Speed Reading Game applies this exact method: flash a string, type it back, immediately, packaged into short daily sessions across six difficulty levels. If you want to try the mechanic described above rather than just read about it, the app is free to download.
▶ Download Free on Google Play
See the full breakdown of difficulty levels, scoring and a screenshot gallery on the Speed Reading Game page.
Sources
[1] Tachistoscope, Wikipedia (WWII pilot-training and speed-reading history)
[2] Testing effect, Wikipedia (retrieval practice research)
[3] Working memory training, Wikipedia (evidence and limits of memory-training transfer)