How Many People Can You Remember?(fivethirtyeight.com)
fivethirtyeight.com
How Many People Can You Remember?
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-many-people-can-you-remember/
8 comments
Wow! I'm surprised the later ones are even possible to do. The faces are shown at a completely different angle and with aspect ratio distorted, I don't know where to begin.
Scored 7/14. Enjoyed it a surprising amount anyway.
Scored 7/14. Enjoyed it a surprising amount anyway.
It is hard to explain but I can just understand the structure of the face and my brain can sort of automatically map that to a 3D model of their head. I don't even need to try and look for distinguishing marks. I just look at the face for a couple of seconds and that's it. Just retook the test, my results http://i.imgur.com/HwQs6XQ.png
That's interesting, I feel the same way about faces. It just feels natural to me.
I got a 13/14 on the first test you posted. Then I decided to take the extended test:
- 37/40 (top 5%) upright face recognition
- 27/32 (top 5%) inverted face recognition
- 38/40 (top 25%) glasgow face matching
- 32/40 (<top 50%) chair recognition test
The results are very interesting. I don't know what to make of them. But these tests were fun nonetheless! Thanks kozukumi.
I got a 13/14 on the first test you posted. Then I decided to take the extended test:
- 37/40 (top 5%) upright face recognition
- 27/32 (top 5%) inverted face recognition
- 38/40 (top 25%) glasgow face matching
- 32/40 (<top 50%) chair recognition test
The results are very interesting. I don't know what to make of them. But these tests were fun nonetheless! Thanks kozukumi.
That test was very interesting. I got 13/14 and I'm certain I know which one I got wrong, as I was torn between two options for only a single question.
I've always been great with faces - but I'll forget someone's name in a matter of seconds.
I'm not sociable at all and actively avoid all contact, going as far as to avoid dinner with my own mother. If that works as a data point against extrovert + facial recognition.
I'd lean more towards observant - and it's something I actively trained myself in. Always remember small details, as they can often be the most important and distinguishing ones.
I've always been great with faces - but I'll forget someone's name in a matter of seconds.
I'm not sociable at all and actively avoid all contact, going as far as to avoid dinner with my own mother. If that works as a data point against extrovert + facial recognition.
I'd lean more towards observant - and it's something I actively trained myself in. Always remember small details, as they can often be the most important and distinguishing ones.
I on the other hand am terrible at remembering names. Tell me your name and I'll forget it in 2 mins unless I make a conscious effort. Maybe that's laziness.
For me, if I meet someone in the corridor who I am not too familiar with, I will not greet them by their name because I have no concrete way to validate I will be accurate that quickly.
It's a valuable skill though. The more chatty and familiar you make yourself, the more people remember you.
For me, if I meet someone in the corridor who I am not too familiar with, I will not greet them by their name because I have no concrete way to validate I will be accurate that quickly.
It's a valuable skill though. The more chatty and familiar you make yourself, the more people remember you.
I did a lot of research on learning techniques, especially spaced repetition, a few years ago. I also noticed I'm not great with names, so I wrote a piece of software called Nombre that tracked everyone I met and let me play a spaced repetition game so I could learn names. It basically died when LinkedIn shut down their APIs, but thought I'd share anyways - http://nombreapp.com.
Does anyone here use a personal CRM or contacts database? Would love to hear your thoughts on that type of software.
Does anyone here use a personal CRM or contacts database? Would love to hear your thoughts on that type of software.
I'm absolutely horrendous at remembering both names and faces so would be very interested to hear suggestions of techniques or tools one can use to assist remembering people.
"You can repeat the person’s name back to her while you’re talking to her, Harris says, “although the best strategy is simply to show more interest in the people you meet."
I've tried this with no luck, I will still forget a person's name within 60 seconds.
It almost seems like I have a portion of my brain missing, and I've always been like this for anything involving memorization. Going over a list of names on a regular basis helps, but very little. However, my spatial recall seems to be much better - if I have a seating plan for example, for some reason I can easily associate a person with where they sit, but I simply cannot remember their name even if I deal with them fairly regularly.
"You can repeat the person’s name back to her while you’re talking to her, Harris says, “although the best strategy is simply to show more interest in the people you meet."
I've tried this with no luck, I will still forget a person's name within 60 seconds.
It almost seems like I have a portion of my brain missing, and I've always been like this for anything involving memorization. Going over a list of names on a regular basis helps, but very little. However, my spatial recall seems to be much better - if I have a seating plan for example, for some reason I can easily associate a person with where they sit, but I simply cannot remember their name even if I deal with them fairly regularly.
The human brain is actually wired to remember visuals over abstract concepts. This is why you're so good at remembering faces and the places you meet people, but not names. Names are abstract, so they are hard to remember,
The best way to remember names is to actually turn that person's name into a mental image, then tie it to the location where you met them. This gives your brain a mental image of someone's name, and when you see there face again, you'll recall the component cues of their name.
For example, my name is Andy Cook, so you might imagine me standing next to a life sized Raggedy Andy doll wearing a chef's hat + apron. When you see me again, you're likely to remember the image and put the name together. The other nice thing about this technique is that it forces you to stop and commit someone's name to memory instead of letting it go in one ear and out the other.
The best way to remember names is to actually turn that person's name into a mental image, then tie it to the location where you met them. This gives your brain a mental image of someone's name, and when you see there face again, you'll recall the component cues of their name.
For example, my name is Andy Cook, so you might imagine me standing next to a life sized Raggedy Andy doll wearing a chef's hat + apron. When you see me again, you're likely to remember the image and put the name together. The other nice thing about this technique is that it forces you to stop and commit someone's name to memory instead of letting it go in one ear and out the other.
Same here. I have actually forgotten someone's given name before they even finished saying their surname.
But I can also, without referencing maps, compass, or GPS, return to places I last visited over 20 years ago.
The spouse will frequently reel off narratives on travel itineraries, despite the number of times I have begged for a calendar or timeline instead. It just goes in one ear and out the other. Arrange it as a map, however, and I have no problem.
It would be great if I could figure out some way to map names and faces to locations, but nothing I have tried ever seems to work, beyond actual cubicle or office locations. And then, if you move to a different spot in the same office, I might forget who you are.
But I can also, without referencing maps, compass, or GPS, return to places I last visited over 20 years ago.
The spouse will frequently reel off narratives on travel itineraries, despite the number of times I have begged for a calendar or timeline instead. It just goes in one ear and out the other. Arrange it as a map, however, and I have no problem.
It would be great if I could figure out some way to map names and faces to locations, but nothing I have tried ever seems to work, beyond actual cubicle or office locations. And then, if you move to a different spot in the same office, I might forget who you are.
I thought this about myself until my first "real" job. I was really nervous and wanted to make a good impression and memorized 20 peoples' names in one meeting, remembering them at least for the next couple days. (After that, those I didn't see were forgotten.)
Point is... I was super-focused on paying attention, and poof my "Hi, George. Nice to meet you. Wait, what was your name?" problem was gone... though only for that day.
Point is... I was super-focused on paying attention, and poof my "Hi, George. Nice to meet you. Wait, what was your name?" problem was gone... though only for that day.
I'm building a personal CRM right now. My girlfriend and I kept going to the dog park and remembering people's dog's names, the walk we met them on, or the park we saw them at, but we could never recall details about the person. I'm building something to correlate people, events, and locations that lets you keep notes. There's a landing page and waiting list right now, https://socialite.ooo, but I'm hoping to have a beta by New Year.
Cool idea, I look forward to seeing more. FWIW, I think your anticipated pricing is pretty reasonable (maybe you want that feedback?). I put my name on the mailing list.
That's great and good luck. I think there's an opportunity there for sure. Namerick in the App Store is a good proxy for this kind of service.
Could you share the results of learning those techniques, especially whether or not Nombre actually helped you?
Sure - I'll do a write up all about it some point soon. The short of it is yes, Nombre helped me. When my startup was acquired by HubSpot and I went from a three person company to a 700 person one, Nombre was super helpful for remembering everyone's names in product + engineering. I basically memorized 75+ people in a week or so.
Hey this is cool! I'd be really interested in something like this, is it still worth it? I mean, without LinkedIn can I link Facebook or something? I suppose facebook profile pics are likely to be somewhat unhelpful, but, man, I'm horrible with names.
I wanted to hook other services up to it but never got around to it. I also realized it needs to be a mobile app to be truly valuable, which I just didn't have the time to build on nights and weekends.
The circumstances it is really helpful with is when you get thrown into situations where you're meeting lots of people - new jobs, new school, new relationship, etc.
Ideally there'd just be a "human" API that had high-res headshots of everyone in the world, but that doesn't exist. The closest is LinkedIn but since they shut down their API's developers can't use it anymore.
The circumstances it is really helpful with is when you get thrown into situations where you're meeting lots of people - new jobs, new school, new relationship, etc.
Ideally there'd just be a "human" API that had high-res headshots of everyone in the world, but that doesn't exist. The closest is LinkedIn but since they shut down their API's developers can't use it anymore.
I have noticed that people who move around a lot seem to remember and care about more people - they tend to have a group of people in their memory from each location they have lived, job they have worked, etc. Whereas people who have lived in one place their entire life tend to be more focused on those who also stayed in that place.
My evidence is anecdotal, as I grew up in a small town, and all of us who left remember each other well, with many of us in touch with each other at least via social media. But our childhood acquaintances barely remember us. Or good friends do, but not those who were simply classmates, for example. And even those who do remember don't necessarily care.
I'd be interested in seeing any actual research performed on that aspect of remembering people.
My evidence is anecdotal, as I grew up in a small town, and all of us who left remember each other well, with many of us in touch with each other at least via social media. But our childhood acquaintances barely remember us. Or good friends do, but not those who were simply classmates, for example. And even those who do remember don't necessarily care.
I'd be interested in seeing any actual research performed on that aspect of remembering people.
"The average number of Christmas cards mailed was 68.2".
I think it was the most impressing number for me in that article, although only based on data from 43 people. Do they spend their whole Christmas writing cards?
Most Christmas cards I get are just photo cards with a collage of family pictures from the year and maybe a handwritten "Merry Christmas" or something on the back.
I have found over the years that the fewer Christmas cards I send (zero for quite some years now), the fewer I tend to receive. I'm quite happy with this situation.
[deleted]
Has Dunbar looked at how technology changes this? After all we now have a database of friends including their pictures and biographical data. And there's one of business connections as well.
You can also keep relations up in a time-economical way now, both two-way (chat,email) and one-way (status update).
You'd think this would make a big difference both to number and quality of connections.
You can also keep relations up in a time-economical way now, both two-way (chat,email) and one-way (status update).
You'd think this would make a big difference both to number and quality of connections.
Pretty interesting question - I don't know Dunbar's view, but I can see two ways of looking at it: one: that the functional social group is the primary thing to be measured, and people who you aren't physically around very often, and who you need a database to remind you who they are, wouldn't properly be part of that; two: that the notion of functional social group should now be expanded to include these very people, and that the relation Dunbar was interested in (proportionality between social group size and neocortex size, viz: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number) needs to be adjusted to regard databases of friends as an extension of the neocortex :)
> needs to be adjusted to regard databases of friends as an extension of the neocortex :)
It's sometimes called an exocortex and I find it to be a very useful term. It implies that your tools are a part of you :).
It's sometimes called an exocortex and I find it to be a very useful term. It implies that your tools are a part of you :).
[deleted]
tl;dr 150
I am also a very sociable and chatty person. I can and do chat to everyone. On the tube. On a plain. Waiting in a queue (I am British after all!). You name it I will chat to you. My wife on the other hand is a person who doesn't like to chat with people she doesn't know. She gets nervous striking up a conversation whereas I just start it without giving it a second thought.
I have wondered if these are related? I am naturally very observant. I remember car reg plates, addresses and telephone numbers with ease. I can't remember if I trained myself to do this or it is just a natural ability. I suspect it is a little bit of both. Remembering IP addresses and directory structures in my early years and teens no doubt helped strengthen those skills.
A couple of months back I did this test [0] and apparently got the 'super recogniser' title with ease. If you think you are good at remember small details it is quite a fun test!
[0] https://jfe.qualtrics.com/form/SV_e3xDuCccGAdgbfT