You’ve just bumped into a friend, John, and he’s introduced you to his friend. “This is Casey,” your friend says. Pleasantries are exchanged and you continue on your way. Twenty minutes later, you stop at a café for a quick bite. On arrival you spot John with his friend. They invite you to sit with them. You accept, but there’s one small problem. For the life of you, you simply cannot recall the friend’s name. Your memory has failed you – again!
Why is it that you could not remember Casey’s name, when you were introduced just 20 minutes ago? Is your memory really failing you? Is that just part of life as you get older? Fortunately, the answer to both questions is probably ‘no’. In this case, it’s not so much that your memory has failed you, but that you have failed your memory.
What you probably haven’t done is ‘encode’ the memory of Casey’s name. And that’s fairly common at moments of introduction. When you bumped into John, your brain was processing that unexpected event. It was recalling John’s name, making observations about his friend, and still processing what you were doing beforehand. With all that to deal with, ‘encoding’ Casey’s name into your memory was not a priority.
In simple terms, the encoding process is your brain’s way of clicking ‘file’ and ‘save’. Closing a Word document without saving, for example, means losing anything you’ve added since you last clicked ‘save’. After your first brief encounter with John and Casey, your brain didn’t click ‘save’, and the name ‘Casey’ was lost.
Memory tricks – how to get your brain to click ‘save’
You might have had similar encounters where you did remember the friend’s name. Why was that memory exercise different? Perhaps the person’s name was the same as your mother’s, or that of an ex-partner.
In such an instance, your brain may have triggered a strong emotion. Strong emotions, particularly fear or trauma, will often automatically click the ‘save’ button in your brain.
Such a memory is encoded through a specific neural pathway, but this encoding can happen through other neural pathways too. And some of these we can be direct and train consciously.
One such example is writing something down. The simple process of putting pen or pencil to paper has been shown in many studies to help entrench a memory. Interestingly, some studies show that this is more effective than typing the same information. So as good as laptops and smartphones are, keeping a pen and notebook handy might be a good idea.
Other useful techniques
Times tables may have disappeared from the primary school curriculum, but rote learning can still be very effective. The simple act of repeating something over and over can help embed a memory.
As a kid I played countless games of ‘dice footy’ and a boardgame called ‘Aussie Footy’, too. These involved writing the score down thousands of times. To this day I ‘know’ a total score the instant I hear the goals/behinds combination. Fourteen goals 10? That’s 94 points. Twelve goals 9? 81. That has proved very useful as a part-time footy journalist!
Assigning meaning can be another very effective way of triggering the brain’s memory ‘save’ function. A friend named her chocolate Labrador Cocoa. That little association was enough for my brain to lock in the name immediately.
It may take a little more work at other times. Let’s take our hypothetical friend of a friend, Casey, for example. ‘Casey’ is perhaps not a name you automatically assign meaning to, but you can still create an association.
From my own experience, making such an association rather silly is more effective. ‘Casey’ sounds like ‘case’, which can be lengthened to ‘suitcase’. All of a sudden, my brain comes up with ‘Suitcasey’. It’s a completely nonsensical word, but it’s enough for me to remember Casey’s name. Rhyming words can help, too. Does Casey play chasey? Perhaps they’re quite racy.
Music can work well for creating a memory, too. The number of advertising jingles I can remember from my childhood is testament to that!
Many people also find creating visual and/or emotional cues to be very effective. Birthday present? Imagine the moment you are handing over the present to the receiver, and the look of excitement on their face. For some, that can be enough.
Memory maintenance
As well as the little tricks above, there are a couple of regular health tips that can also make a big difference. It’s those old staples – sleep and exercise. Ensuring you get those two things often and regularly is good for your memory as well as your body.
So the next time you bump into a friend and he/she introduces you to someone new, think of those tricks. With a bit of luck, one of them will work for you and you won’t find yourself saying, ‘Sorry, what was your name again?’
Are you a serial ‘name forgetter’? What tricks have you come up with to help remember things? Let us know via the comments section below.
Also read: Neuroscientist’s go-to nutrients for brain and memory support
