You find a person, he introduces himself, and after five seconds you realize you’ve forgotten his name. You’re so embarrassed that you don’t ask him again, and when you see him again, there’s no way you can remember his name.
In reality, there is no reason to be ashamed, it is something that has happened to all of us. In fact, it’s such a common phenomenon that researchers at the Open University, Walton Hall, devised an experiment just to understand why we forget proper names so easily.
Roughly speaking, these psychologists came to the conclusion that we forget names because they do not have a meaning for us, as a profession might have, for example. Furthermore, the moment we meet a person, we are so busy developing our first impression of them in order to adapt our behavior, that our cognitive resources literally become saturated.
However, most people expect others to remember their names, so it would be very advantageous from a social point of view to apply some techniques to remember their names. This way, at our next meeting, we will pleasantly surprise them and make an excellent impression.
How to remember a person’s name?
1. Repeat the name
Do you remember when you went to school and tried to memorize your multiplication tables? What did you do? You probably repeated them out loud. Well, we can apply that same strategy to fix a person’s name in our memory. Repeat it several times throughout the conversation, obviously, making it sound natural. This way, you will not only memorize the name but you will please the person because you are showing that he is important to you.
It is worth clarifying that this is a scientifically proven trick, psychologists from the University of Waterloo were in charge of it. These researchers recruited a group of students and asked them to memorize lists. The difference was that some had to memorize it out loud and others inwardly.
As you might guess, recall was better in those who could repeat the list out loud. Why? These psychologists believe that the explanation lies in the fact that when we speak, our brain processes information differently, giving it priority and, therefore, making it more memorable.
2. Associate the name with some personal characteristic
In reality, proper names have no meaning, they are like meaningless syllables and that is why it is more difficult for us to memorize them than to remember the person’s profession. Therefore, an excellent strategy to memorize a name is to associate that word with some special characteristic of the person or someone you know. For example, if it is a man with a mustache, you can associate his name with that of a character that is significant to you who has also mustaches.
By doing this, you will be creating a network within your memory, which will make the name more memorable. Imagine memory as if it were a large warehouse, if you put a name inside, on the first shelf you find, it is likely that you will not be able to find it later. However, if you are all organized, forming connections, you will know how to get to that name easily.
3. Have fun with the name
We tend to remember better things that are fun to us. Various studies have shown that a sense of humor helps us remember better, one of the most recent was carried out at the University of Texas. On that occasion, they recruited a group of students who wanted to learn English. For a week, with some they used classic grammatical material and with others they applied a dose of humor. The psychologists were able to see that after a month, the students who were given fun classes remembered much of the content.
How to apply this idea to remember a name? Take the name and have fun with it, imagine strange and ridiculous situations. For example, if the name you want to remember is Caesar, you can imagine that person dressed as the Roman emperor. The only limit is your fantasy.
References:
Ozubko, J. D. et. Al. (2010) The production effect in memory: Evidence that distinctiveness underlies the benefit. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition; 36(6): 1543-1547.
Robbie Reese, R. (2010) The impact of integrated humor on memory retention and recall aspects of adult learning. Tesis de Doctorado: Universidad de Texas.
