Yesterday had a short meeting with someone I knew and someone I didn’t. I was told his name and spent 10 mins chatting. I promptly forgot his name, and was unable to email him until he mailed me later with the document we talked about (which I did remember).

Then today I wanted to go and talk to him but I could not properly remember his face. I am sure I did remember it but my memory started to half recall loads of other people and then I became so paranoid that I’d speak to the wrong person my brain started merging all the faces together. So I instant messaged him asking where he sat, then he gave an incomplete reply that suggested he was be the chap on the end of the same row of desks as me. But by this point part of my brain was so paranoid I daren’t go and speak to him even though it was very obviously the same guy based on two different pieces of information!

Although I am not particularly anxious about it in real terms, seems like some small part of my brain is. What an idiot.

Me too. Which is bad news when you are a teacher. I’m pretty good at remembering all manner of other things (I’m the go to person for asking where stuff is in the department and can remember numbers and technical details without conscious effort) but it’s like that bit of my brain never developed properly.

a) Faces – really good, I always recognise people I’ve seen before

b) Names – terrible, really terrible, I will forget someone’s name within seconds of meeting them, and/or forget someone’s name who I’ve known for ages.

Hi Ben,

One trick which could help you is when meeting someone for the first time and are introduced is to repeat their name a couple of times.
Hi Ben, Nice to meet you. so, Ben what area do you work in. that’s great Ben. have you worked here long Ben… Ben why are you walking away, wait Ben I can change, don’t go Ben… BEN!!!!

something like that ;0)

I’m the same. Takes me a long time to learn a new face. Or I’ll recognise a face but not be able to place where I know them from. Working half my time in film and tv doesn’t help – each job will involve a team of about 60 people, half of whom I’ll have met briefly before at some time in the past decade, half I won’t, and the half I will of met might be working in a different role to last time.

Recently I failed to recognise someone that I’d only recently been working with daily for nearly 3 months – we weren’t just on the same job she was actually working for me.

What was more entertaining though was my first job was in a prison. I’d bump into folk in the street or the pub who’d start chatting away to me and be struggling to place their face while quietly thinking ‘should this guy be outside?’. On one occasion the answer was ‘no’ but I’d already bought him a pint before I figured that out.

Just call everyone Dave, after Rodney

IHN – Member
a) Faces – really good, I always recognise people I’ve seen before

b) Names – terrible, really terrible, I will forget someone’s name within seconds of meeting them, and/or forget someone’s name who I’ve known for ages.

This is me, I’ll see people around town that I had a brief chat to at my last companies leaving do when I was blasted, no idea what their names are though.

Also people that catch the train I used to catch to work, most of them dont remember me (odd really because I’m strikingly handsome, maybe they’re pretending) but I’ve not caught the train for a couple of years now and I still see new ones about town.

Names though, no chance so I avoid re-introducing myself because I would be embarrassing trying to explain how I know them

I’m fine with faces, but terrible with names.

To the point that i’ll doubt I know the name, even with members of (extended) family!

Hilariously, I was having a joke with a guy at the office party who I didn’t know, that you just end up calling everyone “Gary” because you can’t remember their name. He told me his name, and now I can only think of his name as “Gary” even though I know it isn’t.

Or if you get bored of Dave…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW3ytid4DA[/video]

Same here. I often have conversations with people who seem to know who I am and all about me but I can’t place their name or face at all.

something like that ;0)

Lol 🙂

Whilst we are on the subject, I have trouble on forum rides correlating Dave, Steve, Chris etc with 4130S0ul and the like 🙂

In meetings I draw a picture of the table and put a name next to each seat as people are introduced.

It helps me remembering faces afterwards too as I can still see them in my mind’s eye.

Otherwise I’m crap. People I’ve known and ridden with for years I look at and can either only remember their forum name or it comes back to me 10 minutes after we’ve parted. I’m ‘on the spectrum’ and I think it’s just a result of that, in part.

I think for forum rides we’ll have to have jerseys made up with our real name / forum names on the back. that way it’s only the fastest rider at the front who has to remember who the hell they’re riding with

Carry a Sharpie and some Post it notes with you wherever you go and when you meet someone new, fashion an impromptu name badge and slap it on them.
Take a picture on your phone for future reference then, when you meet them again, you can surreptitiously check your phone and make a new name badge without having to ask their name first.

They will surely be mightily impressed with this astonishing feat of memory.

You need a memory palace

Same here, with names at least. I think it could be to do with how I tend to skip the pointless small talk and cut straight to something interesting or important when I meet someone, the subject of the conversation takes precedence.

Right PITA as I have just started a new job in a large company!

Prosopagnosia, it’s a thing, innit

I often have conversations with people who seem to know who I am and all about me but I can’t place their name or face at all.

I get this, a lot. People say hello to me by name at work and I think “I’ve never seen you before in my life.” I get recognised in the street by people I haven’t seen since primary school. Maybe I’m just memorable (-:

I had one in the supermarket a few years ago. Some bloke said hello to me, again by name, he looked vaguely familiar but I didn’t have a clue. We did that uncomfortable “just bumped into someone you vaguely know and are trying to make smalltalk with” pregnant pause, I broke the silence with, “so, um… what are you doing these days?” The reply, “I’m working at [company name] with you, you idiot.” I went “oh yeah, of course!” – still no nearer.

I’m ‘on the spectrum’ and I think it’s just a result of that, in part.

Entirely possible.

I can remember it at the time and for the duration of the encounter/meeting/ride.

It’s just afterwards the information gets scrambled.

I am normally razor sharp at names and faces but did once phone my Mum in a panic because I saw some shifty looking, random bloke driving her car and thought it’d been nicked……..

“That’s your Dad, son”

In my defence, it was the the first time in 25 years that I ‘d seen him without a beard.

4130s0ul – Member
Hi Ben,

One trick which could help you is when meeting someone for the first time and are introduced is to repeat their name a couple of times.
Hi Ben, Nice to meet you. so, Ben what area do you work in. that’s great Ben. have you worked here long Ben… Ben why are you walking away, wait Ben I can change, don’t go Ben… BEN!!!!

something like that ;0)

What if their name isn’t Ben? 😉

Im the same, thats why every bloke i know i call either dood, squire or fella

Yeah – and then my wife asks me why I didn’t introduce her to someone, I have to say “because I couldn’t remember their name” 🙁

I often have conversations with people who seem to know who I am and all about me but I can’t place their name or face at all.

Me too, I’m told they are my children.

great with faces, rubbish with names.

Problem i have is I recognise people i have met, but not how i know them. so they might be an aquaintance or someone who served me in a bar 3 years ago.

I also can see resemblence/ familiarity in loads of faces – drives me a bit crazy. I was at a trade show yesterday. kept seeing a guy who looks like my mate rich, danny mackaskils ‘big brother’, weird child of david cameron and sue pollard.

Yeah – and then my wife asks me why I didn’t introduce her to someone, I have to say “because I couldn’t remember their name

we’ve sorted this down to a tee, after a couple of arguments.
If i know i’ll introduce them, if i say ‘alright buddy’ she introduces herself then i get to know their name too.

Someone called Claire actually told me this (a decade ago) and it really actually works (at least for me and I’m as crap as anyone with names)

Point being I remember she was called Claire and she suggested a minimum of 3x in the conversation. It really does work!

Cat is now out of the bag. If you meet me, you will now notice that I rarely use anyone’s name…

you will now notice that I rarely use anyone’s name…

I just call everyone Sweet Cheeks. (or is it Vinegar Tits? I forget.)

Prosopagnosia

Really interesting topic. I first found out about it when i got invited to do some research along the lines of ‘do you struggle to follow the characters in films’.

Repeating someone’s name when you first meet them does help to avoid the ‘in one ear out the other’ scenario, but faces are still really difficult! Thankfully my partner is happy to pause films and remind me who’s who..

I find I recognise hair and clothes more than faces in films.

I find I recognise hair and clothes more than faces in films.

Have you ever mistaken your wife for a hat?

I met a bloke I hadn’t seen in a while once, he was with another couple and we went to the pub. Couple of rounds later and he goes to the bar and the other lad asks where I know him from. I replied ‘I used to go out with his next door neighbour’ at which point the girl quietly said ‘That was me’
I was mortified.
Mind you I met my Mum once and she didn’t recognise me.

I find I recognise hair and clothes more than faces in films.

Ditto. I don’t want to pander to a stereotype (“they all look the same”) – I’m Aspie which may contribute to it – but I struggled like hell to keep track of characters in Battle Royale.

(Related fact – humans are generally predisposed to be better at facial recognition amongst people of their own racial descent.)

apparently the attachment of a name to a face is one of the hardest mental tests – because there is no correlation between the two bits of information. if we had a system then it would be simpler, and the names are endlessly reused but you are hardwired to spot the differences between faces

hence why you remember ginger Mark’s name because you’ve attached the name Mark to the hair colour (and this is why nicknames stick because we need them), but not all Marks are ginger and not all gingers are Mark

Related fact – humans are generally predisposed to be better at facial recognition amongst people of their own racial descent

This is obvious to me, about me, but it also stands to reason. I’m surrounded by white people and have been for most of my life. The next most common face I see is south Asian, and I do ok with them. I’ve only ever known a few black or east Asian people and they are the ones I struggle with more. Although I’m much better these days as I’ve met more people through work.

I’m ok with names, but terrible at remembering faces. On group rides I mostly recognise people by their bike, if someone comes along with a new bike I’d have no idea if I’d ridden with them before.

Yes, that too!

all of the above

phew, not just me then!

Related fact – humans are generally predisposed to be better at facial recognition amongst people of their own racial descent

Do you find it happens more often when competing on off-road circuits?