Does he look familiar?
Key Takeaways
- •Short-term memory is described as being housed in the hippocampus, while long-term memory stores more durable information such as addresses and familiar facts.
- •Names are often forgotten quickly unless they are repeated often or tied to familiar routines.
- •Memory coaches recommend mnemonics and visual cues, including acronyms and photos, to help link faces with names.
- •The article suggests that irrelevant information, such as names from product launches or long-forgotten movie plots, can disappear from memory over time.
- •The piece notes that some people can remember Shakespeare passages or other distant memories even while forgetting recent practical details.
Memory lapses can be embarrassing.
You are at the mall when a rotund figure in a loud Hawaiian shirt approaches you, shakes your hand, and hugs you. Is this person a long-lost friend? He even looks vaguely familiar, but what is his name, and how do you know him, if you do? He tells you what company he is heading. (You are not retired yet?) He is taken aback: you know I was asked to take early retirement some years back, and you attended my farewell party. (You do not remember me?)
Online search can be useful in moments like these. Check the company he is now with, and several names appear, along with photos. One of them is your mystery man. Of course, it is too late to call him back with the right name, as if you never really forgot.
This kind of absentmindedness need not be the Alzheimer variety, where the sufferer seems to meet new people every day without leaving the house. The 2004 movie 50 First Dates, in which Drew Barrymore plays a character who has lost her short-term memory after a car accident, comes to mind. Adam Sandler’s character tries to present himself as someone new each day. Romantic comedies are not always funny.
You attend a class reunion where you are supposed to know everyone, but certain faces draw a blank. It is truly embarrassing when you order coffee from a former classmate coming from the restroom, unless, of course, this is his new job. (He does look too old to be a barista.)
At funerals, memory lapses become more pronounced. If most of the wakegoers look unfamiliar, including the special guest of honor in sublime repose, is it possible you are in the wrong chapel?
Memory resides in different parts of the brain. Short-term memory — such as what floor you parked the car on and whether you already took your blue pill with dessert — is lodged in the hippocampus, named after the seahorse because of its shape. This short-term memory is eventually transferred to the larger long-term memory section, which holds your home address — at least one of them — the soliloquy of Hamlet in the Shakespeare play, and the name of your biology teacher in high school. That is why some names vanish quickly while other details stay put for years, especially if they have been repeated often or attached to familiar routines.
Memory coaches promote the use of mnemonics (silent “m”), such as acronyms for lists and visual pegs to combine faces with names. Try CAGELPS for the seven deadly sins. With a tour group abroad, it is important to remember the guide’s name if only to ask for a toilet stop in case the bus does not have one. She is not always wearing her name tag. If her name is “Vicky,” you can imagine a jar of your favorite oily spread which you rub on your chest when you are coughing. Then you are still likely to address her wrongly — Hey, Vicks. Okay, that is close enough.
Or, when she introduces her name to the group, just take a photo with your phone and attach a name. (Where did I put my phone?)
The Bathtub Theory on Memory states that, “After use, most unnecessary information goes down the drain if it hasn’t overflowed already.” This unscientific law applies to certain names, such as those met at product launches, when even calling cards stuffed in the wallet and retrieved later do not tug at the hippocampus. (Where did I get this card?) It also applies to movie plots and restaurants no longer open for business — where was that Spanish restaurant located?
Distant memory is supposed to persist even when you have lapses about where you parked the car. How come you can remember, on top of Hamlet above, the speech of Cassius to Brutus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar — “I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus.” And how useful is this from high school when you have forgotten the pickup point that you told your driver to wait for you? (This lost-in-a-maze incident can be a recurring dream.)
The next time you are greeted by someone who seems vaguely familiar, it is all right to look puzzled. You can even plead for assistance: Sorry, I can’t remember you after my stroke. The puzzled stranger may even say: Sir, I was waving at the person behind you.
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda.
