19 Facts About Solomon Shereshevsky

Solomon Shereshevsky was the subject of Alexander Luria's case study The Mind of a Mnemonist.

Solomon Shereshevsky met Luria after an anecdotal event in which he was scolded for not taking any notes while attending a work meeting in the mid-1920s.

For example, if Solomon Shereshevsky heard a musical tone played he would immediately see a colour, touch would trigger a taste sensation, and so on for each of the senses.

Luria did not clearly distinguish between whatever natural ability Solomon Shereshevsky might have had and mnemonic techniques like the method of loci and number shapes that "S" described.

Solomon Shereshevsky participated in experiments in which he showed that he had control over his body's involuntary functions.

Solomon Shereshevsky was able to simultaneously raise the temperature of his right hand by 2 degrees while lowering the temperature of his left hand by 1.5 degrees.

Solomon Shereshevsky claimed to have been able to avoid pain by imagining that someone else was experiencing it and watching the other man experience it.

Additionally, Solomon Shereshevsky claimed to be able to cure himself and others of sickness by imagining that the problem went away.

Details of Solomon Shereshevsky's biography are different in his own writing from Luria's account; according to S, they first met with Luria on April 13,1929.

Solomon Shereshevsky lived in Moscow with his wife, Aida, and son, in "a damp room in the basement of a janitorial outbuilding tucked away in a courtyard".

Solomon Shereshevsky used method of loci, imagining Gorky Street in Moscow or "a village street from his childhood" as his memory palaces.

Solomon Shereshevsky died in 1958 "from complications related to his alcoholism".

Solomon Shereshevsky had an active imagination, which helped him generate useful mnemonics.

Solomon Shereshevsky stated that his condition often produced unnecessary and distracting images or feelings.

Solomon Shereshevsky had trouble memorizing information whose intended meaning differed from its literal one, as well as trouble recognizing faces, which he saw as "very changeable".

Solomon Shereshevsky occasionally had problems reading, because the written words evoked distracting sensations.

Solomon Shereshevsky had problems when the sound of a word didn't match its meaning.

Solomon Shereshevsky's memory was so powerful that he could still recall decades-old events and experiences in the smallest details.

Solomon Shereshevsky went as far as writing things down on paper and burning it, so that he could see the words in cinders, in a desperate attempt to forget them.