Why Does The Brain Remember Faces & Places But Not Names?

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
How many times have you fought to recall a name tied to a face & place and circumstance you remember clearly but can't for the life of you recall the name? I'm so bad at it some times I just don't bring up the question or avoid the question when others bring it up. Frustrating.
 

I have the opposite with regard to faces... I just have no memory for faces unless I've seen them dozens of times..and then only in context.

I remember dates very well..and places very well too, but like you @Grampa Don
, I'm finding it increasingly difficult in normal conversation to recall words I've used all my life...


Can you find the thing, that does the whatsit, which looks like the thingumybob,...you know, a whatchamacallit thingy, ... It's embarassing!!
 

I've had problems remembering people's names, for many years. I've found that the Only way I can remember the name of someone I meet for the first time, is to write their name down at the first opportunity. Once I have written their name, and something unique about them, I can usually recall their name again the next time we meet.
 
I have always had trouble remembering names. Now I can't remember nouns at times. My brain is aging, just like the rest of me.
 
It's funny because here in the Uk, we're not very forward when we first meet someone so we get introduced, don't hear the name properly or instantly forget, and we're too polite to ask again, so forever and a day we've been told by memory experts the ''tip'' to remember people's names is to use the 'American way'', and that is to repeat the name several time during the first introduction..

Hi I'm john

Me..Hi john, where are you from John,?

John replies..

Me, that's great John,.. how's your wife and kids..John?....and so on until the name is stuck in the memory


I've never done it but I'd be intrigued to know if any of you guys do this naturally..
:unsure:
 
hollydolly said:
It's funny because here in the Uk, we're not very forward when we first meet someone so we get introduced, don't hear the name properly or instantly forget, and we're too polite to ask again, so forever and a day we've been told by memory experts the ''tip'' to remember people's names is to use the 'American way'', and that is to repeat the name several time during the first introduction..

Hi I'm john
Me..Hi john, where are you from John,?
John replies..
Me, that's great John,.. how's your wife and kids..John?....and so on until the name is stuck in the memory
I've never done it but I'd be intrigued to know if any of you guys do this naturally..
:unsure:
Click to expand...


There's a game site on the Internet called Lumosity, and your sample @hollydolly is something they suggest that people should do. They had (maybe still do) a fun timed game of matching people and names/faces in different situations.

I've never gone up to anyone and repeated their name in conversation ... would feel a little silly, but it could work.:)
If someone came up to me and kept repeating my name, I would be thinking 'what is their problem?' ...lol
 
that got me thinking 'i wonder why we dont remember the name ?
maybe we dont find it is important enough -?
 
Bonnie said:
There's a game site on the Internet called Lumosity, and your sample @hollydolly is something they suggest that people should do. They had (maybe still do) a fun timed game of matching people and names/faces in different situations.

I've never gone up to anyone and repeated their name in conversation ... would feel a little silly, but it could work.:)
If someone came up to me and kept repeating my name, I would be thinking 'what is their problem?' ...lol
Click to expand...
See, that's what I've always though Bonnie, but the memory ''experts'' here insist it's the American way :D

Oh yes I'm familiar with the luminosity tests
 
Not to make too light of a serious subject, but I just had a thought!! Most of us on here use a pseudonym , and have pretty much known each other by that name for a long time.. Can you imagine if we all met up, and had to start using our real names?... :oops:...good lord we'd never remember at all... :giggle:
 
Oh, so struggle with this. I just tell people when introduced that'll I'm horrible with names and will have to ask them several more times until it locks in. People usually laugh and say they understand.

What's weird is that I do remember names in conjunction with voices over the telephone even if I've only had one, brief conversation with a person.
 
For lots of people remembering street names is the hardest, but when you meet someone, you can always bluff and say, "Have you seen Thingyo from over, by erm, you know, that place with that bloody big chimney?"
"Oh you mean, Thingyo, that went to school with that other, Thingyo bloke from where they make the cement, who's father, Thingyo won all that money?"
"No, Thingyo, I didn't mean that ,Thingyo, anyway, Thingyo, I'll have to run, got a bus to catch."
"Ta-ra then, Thingyo, give my regards to Thingyo when you see her."

Work that one out......šŸ˜†
 
I don't really have this problem,but since I've been retired, its taken me longer to remember an ex co-worker who I see either in Target or grocery store. They say'Hi,Sue',the face looks familiar,I always say'I know you from somewhere' as soon as they tell me who they are,for some reason I can remember which floor or dept they work in at the hospital
 
moviequeen1 said:
I don't really have this problem,but since I've been retired, its taken me longer to remember an ex co-worker who I see either in Target or grocery store. They say'Hi,Sue',the face looks familiar,I always say'I know you from somewhere' as soon as they tell me who they are,for some reason I can remember which floor or dept they work in at the hospital
Click to expand...

Oh, I do just hate it when someone will say "Hi Bonnie", and I have no idea what their name is! .... Happens around my new apartments a lot.
It makes me feel bad, and stupid.
 

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