Frequency of eidetic imagery among hydrocephalic children.

A sample of 75 mentally retarded children, including 14 with arrested hydrocephalus, 39 with other diagnoses of brain damage, and 22 familial cases, was tested for eidetic imagery, in order to clarify the relationship between eidetric imagery and neuropathology. The hypotheses tested were that the frequency of eidetic imagery is higher among hydrocephalics than among other brain-damaged children and higher among hydrocephalics than among familials. The data confirmed the hypotheses and are interpreted as supporting a theory in which particular structural impairments in the visual system may delay neural development and result in a persistance of eidetic imagery.