Cognition, Intelligence and Language Learning/Memory Mnemonics Social Psychology

Ep 277: How to Remember Names

How To Remember Names

 

It’s hard to remember names – but here’s how to do it. You’ll use your imagination and some weird imagery – but this works.

This is another great use of mnemonics. I’ll give you a bunch of people’s names and describe the images I created to help me remember them. Give your brain a little room to roam and put it to practical use. Also, I look at recent research that provides yet another reason why names are hard to remember.

 

Resources for this Episode

 

    • Abrams, L., & Davis, D. K. (2017). Competitors or Teammates: How Proper Names Influence Each Other. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(1), 87-93

 

Michael

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7 Comments

  1. Michael

    March 22, 2017

    So happy to hear that. Thanks so much for letting me know that the mnemonics have been helpful to your daughter. Yes, I’ve got a ton more mnemonics in my Psych Mnemonics app in the iTunes store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/psych-mnemonics-memory-tools/id1158607712?mt=8&ls=1

  2. Avatar

    Sarah-Jane

    March 22, 2017

    Hi Michael
    My dyslexic 13 year old daughter found your mnemonics for learning the names for the parts of the ear and eyes incredibly helpful. Thank you. Can you please let me know which of your apps covers this? Its not clear from the apple store which one it is.
    Cheers
    Sarah-Jane

  3. Avatar

    Elspeth H

    March 22, 2017

    Those are both great! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  4. Michael

    March 22, 2017

    “Elves on a path” – I can picture that. Love it! So all you’d have to do is imagine this specific person walking along a path along with 5-6 other elves. Works for me.

  5. Avatar

    Debbie Lupo

    March 22, 2017

    I thought of “Elves on a path” for the name Elspeth.

    Deb Lupo

  6. Michael

    March 22, 2017

    Yes, unique name. Okay, here’s the image that came to mind: an elf spitting. Of course, I don’t know what you look like, so I don’t know if the image of an elf could be attached in my mind to your face or body, but if you were short then this would really work well. Thanks for the challenge – what do you think? 🙂

  7. Avatar

    Elspeth H

    March 22, 2017

    As someone with a rare name, I’d love to hear what mnemonic you’d come up for mine: Elspeth.

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