Eidetic Images are not always replica’s of past experiences.
Eidetic imagery, however, is not synonymous with memory. In some cases it is actually contra productive. It changes recollections of reality, usually according to the Laws of Pragnanz.
In my case, for example, the eidetic images of the waves were bigger, better shaped and more frequent than in reality.
Dr. Oliver Sacks, in his book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, relates a case of an artist in San Francisco.
He had been forced as a child to leave his home village in Italy during the Second World War. At one point in his life he started having short but strong eidetic images. They were always of this town.
In time, they became more intense to the point where they blocked out reality. Someone suggested that he draw what he saw, which he did.