wispfox

I have both problems. :)

From:

Also, Have you heard of dysnomia (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dysnomia) already? That's the name problem you mention.

From:

juliansinger.livejournal.com

Yeah. I've always linked it more with the ADD, though, and the whole thing where it's hard to remember immediate things if I can't read them. (But hey, it has a name!)

(So if I get introduced to someone, then I can't remember their name off the top of my head, 15 mins later. That doesn't explain the people who have been vague acquaintances for years and who I suddenly blank on, but anyway.)

From:

That doesn't explain the people who have been vague acquaintances for years and who I suddenly blank on, but anyway.

*chuckle* No, it doesn't. And I do that, sometimes. :)

From:

dragontdc.livejournal.com

I had heard of dysnomia, but had forgotten what it was called.

(grin) (But true!)

From:

kightp.livejournal.com

I've always had a terrible time remembering Proper Nouns. The names of people, the titles of movies or books, the names of songs. I often resort to the subterfuge of "introducing" friends by saying, "Oh - you two introduce yourselves, I'll be back in a sec." (Which, of course, doesn't help me at all.

I watched three movies on DVD over the weekend. I can see the actors' faces in my mind's eye, I can explain the plots in some detail, I could probably even quote some of the dialogue. But I can only remember the title of one of them ("Statement") and the fact that the lead actor was Michael Caine - and that took some serious concentration, and the fact that the title appeared over and over in the course of the movie.

I can remember the lyrics to every song the Beatles ever wrote, but I'm spotty on their titles (unless the title is right there in the lyrics) and which albums they're from.

I don't, so far as I know, suffer from ADD or anything like that. I just have a blank spot in the part of my memory that retains proper nouns.

From:

I've always had a terrible time remembering Proper Nouns. The names of people, the titles of movies or books, the names of songs.

Me, too, but I think you've got it worse than I do. Crazy.

You know, I should eventually have a goal of visiting you, since I didn't make it to the APC you were actually at!

That way I can have visited both of the non-southern places that I will never live, in the US. ;)

(probably not until next year at the earliest, but wanted to mention the idea)

From:

kightp.livejournal.com

That would be an enormous amount of fun. (-:

Alternatively (and more economically) come to apc12 in Baltimore in January. I'll be there. (-:

From:

Oh! Yay! I shall be there! *pleased*

From:

beowabbit

I have an easy time recognizing faces and personalities, but a hard time connecting the face/personality/person to the context I know them from, and an even harder time pulling out the right name to go with the face/personality/person. Like you, I have a much easier time if I've seen the name written. (And like you, I have an easier time remembering names I use in writing regularly — the name that always comes to mind for you is

wispfox, even though I was introduced to you by your given name first.)

From:

juliansinger.livejournal.com

Nodnodnodnodnod.

Also, nod.

From:

hard time connecting the face/personality/person to the context I know them from, and an even harder time pulling out the right name to go with the face/personality/person.

Oh, I have these, too. But I think these are slightly more common. :)

From:

When I meet people, I get a sense of their texture as well as a feeling for their eyes. I'm not sure how to describe someone's texture since it's not really something that I've ever been able to English. My interaction with you is a bit different since I already have a texture from you and I rarely ever have a texture from someone that I haven't physically met.

From:

I am interested in this concept, since texture conveys literal touch to me.

Can you manage to english parts of it, or describe how a particular person seems to you based on texture?

From:

The best that I'm able to compare it to is an analogy. You know when you shake hands with someone, or share a hug with them that you can, at times, get a sense of them by how they do it? Well, I get texture from someone in a similar way but it's rather more detailed. It's not really something that comes in through the skin or other similar avenues, it's just something that I know when I meet the person or think of them later. Unfortunately, I don't have the words to describe the words that would describe the textures. Some people are obvious but to describe them in normal texture words like slick or comfy is to vastly oversimplify. It'd be like describing all of Freudian analysis as "there's the id, ego, and superego and drives associated with those".

From:

Hmm... So it's different from essence, because it is actually texturey adjectives?

From:

I suspect you trying to describe 'texture' is kinda like me trying to describe what I mean by knowing what someone's core self is like.

It's _really_ difficult for someone I know well to startle me with their behavior, and usually when they do something against the way I think they are, I'm right about it not being quite right.

But I can't explain it...

From:

So, do you know more and more of their core self as you get to know them better or do you get the whole thing all at once. I'd figure the first but that's just speculation.

From:

It's gradual, definitely. But... only sorta.

In many cases (

australian_joe being the most recent example), I develop a basic sense of a person quickly upon meeting them, and later interactions with them will help confirm (and rarely, modify - very rarely. It's a lot disconcerting to have this happen, because it means my basic sense wasn't right so I was attaching memories and information to an inaccurate memory placement. Tends to be fairly damaging if it's a major difference between my sense of a person and their actual selves) it.

The confirmation pieces are neccessary, however, for someone to stick in my head for a long period of time even without interaction. Just the sense is not enough.

In the case of someone I meet online, I can develop a sense of a person, but I don't get the basic framework on which I usually attach the confirmations of that sense. So I can only get a sense up to a certain (insufficient and not cohesive) point, and rarely will think of someone I only know online when not interacting with them.

Like, I won't notice, much as I like you both, if you or

bridgetester were to vanish for a week or two, unless someone were to point it out. After a week or two, I might notice. Maybe. And you two are, by far, the people I have the best sense of, in terms of people I've not yet met.

From:

Also, yes, on the oddness of having texture from me.

I _don't_ have a core sense of you, yet, as I do actually need in-person stuff for it. I must have some, though, or I'd not want to meet. Huh...

From:

To me, there are a few things about you that I only ever get after I've met them physically. So, I'm a bit confused. But that's okay, confused means that I have more to learn. yay! learning is good.

From:

yay! learning is good.

*bounces* And that's (one reason) why I'm still in school. And plan to continue learning, no matter how informal, for the rest of my life.

From:

s/about you that I only ever get/about you that I have gotten that I normally only ever get/

?

From:

1

From:

*nods* In-person stuff=necessary, yes.

But it's still possible to get a lot of "personality" from phone/email/other communication.

It also requires time, and often them interacting with others for me to "see/feel/sense/understand/develop an opinion of" people

From:

roozle.livejournal.com

I've been following this thread with great interest. For most of my life I had a terrible time remembering names and faces, and there are still embarrassing moments when I miss a name of someone I am supposed to know. I was able to markedly improve that, but I don't really know how I went about doing that.

Still lots of food for thought here.

From:

embarrassing moments when I miss a name of someone I am supposed to know.

You may have noticed that one of the first things I say to people I meet is that I won't remember their name. It helps stave off the embarrassing moments later. ;)

From:

roozle.livejournal.com

I definitely have a hard time with people out of their familiar context. That's usually the source of the most confusing moments. It's hard when I would definitely remember someone in context and then I meet them out of context and flail around going "I'm sorry, I've misplaced your name."

From:

Context (particularly place) does have a particular effect on memory.

Audio and smell have a solid effect too.

There have been a number of psychological studies on the effect of environment on learning/memory. People who tried to recognize or recall information in the same/similar environment did much better than those who switched to a different place.

From:

It is bad to forget one's partner's name as well as the name of your boss of three years. I've done both. I have a button, "Hi! I can't remember your name either." It's amazing how much easier I can remember names if I read them though. Then, I've got a 40-60% chance (or so) of remembering.

From:

ratatosk.livejournal.com

The thing about recognizing people in a crowd is that don't use faces, but demeanor, height, size, hair, and clothing.

From:

Hmm. For the most part, I simply don't recognize people in a crowd. No matter how well I know them. Finding someone in a crowd, for me, is _entirely_ luck based. And usually them seeing me.

Interesting. :)

From:

*points at

ladytabitha's crowd (http://userpic.livejournal.com/17280839/98808) icon*

From:

I (try to) use the method of repeating a person's name back to them after they say it. It helps a bit, but I also warn them that I can be bad with names.

From:

Repeating appears to have no useful effect for me. Names of things I've not seen written just don't seem to make it from short term memory to long term.

From:

Ask for business cards.

Carry a small notebook where people (or you) can write their names down.

From:

Might work, if I were likely to remember to _use_ it. :)

I often don't realize that someone's name is something I want to learn - since I don't bother learning a name if I'm not going to interact with them enough to have a place to put it - until after I've interacted with them for a while!

From: