WebWord

First, I need to ask you a question. Do you remember faces really well? And, here’s a second question. Do you remember faces better than names? Do you feel frustrated because you remember people when you see them, but you just can’t remember their names? 

Yeah, well, you’re just like 99% of the rest of the world… 

There’s nothing special about your ability to recognize people. It’s also case that most people are terrible with names. You’re human, like the rest of us.

You see, the vast majority of people are really good at recognition. That is, people are good at pattern matching. Recognition is most often described as multiple choice. If you give most people choices, where the right answer is one of the possibilities, then people do fairly well. That’s because we’re all good at recognizing what we know.

That’s pattern matching, and we’re good at it. 

On the other hand, most people are not so good at recall. This is the effort required to come up with the answer yourself. The answer isn’t right in front of you. You’re required to dig into memory on your own, to find the answer. Recall is often described as fill-in-the-blank or writing and essay.

OK, back to the previous topic: names versus faces. It’s just a lot harder to remember names than faces. Humans are wired to recognize and pattern match (and guess), but they’re not so good at digging up memories.  Here’s something that will always help you: cues. In plain terms, if you give someone a piece of the answer (i.e., cue), you will increase accuracy. 

Life is all about cues. If you think you’re going to forget something, leave behind cues. This is why writing notes to yourself is so smart. If you think you’re going to forget then leave behind those breadcrumbs. Design your life in a way that gives you more opportunities for recognition. More recognition and less recall is what you want. 

(Hint: This is why people love name tags!) 

Also, routines help. The reason is that humans fall into patterns. We’re creatures of habit. So, find ways to turn your tasks in routines, which are models that you use over and over. They get burned into your mind and your body, and they become automatic. If you think you’re going to forget something simply turn it into a regular activity. Eventually, it’ll just get cooked right into the hardware. Just watch for forming bad habits. 

By the way, if you have a routine, then you don’t need to depend on your memory. You just “know” it. There’s hardly any recall and just a little recognition. In essence, routines help you circumvent the problems you face with your memory, almost entirely. (This is also known as automaticity.) 

The third user experience mind trick is association. I could go on and on about mnemonic devices, which is a fancy way of saying memory aids. The core truth of a mnemonic device is that it’ll be about association. When I see a cat, I think “meow” or when I think about the word wife, I think about the word husband. There are millions and billions of ways to make associations. In fact, that’s what mnemonics are all about: ways to form associations.

Here’s a little tip. When you first meet someone, be sure to say that person’s name 1-2 times while talking to them. Don’t be afraid to ask the person their name again. It’s not rude. Most importantly — this is the magic — create a story about the person during the conversion or immediately after. Associate that person with something. It might be how they spell their name, how they walk, where they grew up, or something else. The key is to generate easy cues you can use in the future. You’re creating cues, if you think about it. 

So, let’s recap. The big point is that recognition is generally better than recall. You life gets better when you depend on recognition more than recall. 

And, here are 3 user experience (UX) mind tricks regarding memory improvement: 

1. Look for cues, create cues, use cues. Cues are lovely. 

2. If you want to remember something, don’t depend on your memory: automate it. Routines are great.

3. Form associations. John S. Rhodes and usability and marketing and WebWord. Bam!

I hope you found this little posting useful and entertaining. Please Stumble it, Digg it, and bookmark it. Feel free to give it some chocolate chip cookies. This posting loves cookies.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 8:42 am and is filed under Usability, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.