Perceptions of Remembered People
How do I remember people?
I have never understood how people can remember and describe the faces of people they know with clarity that rivals a photograph. How a person's attributes can be broken down into any specific part - only to be recalled at anytime.
What do I mean, you may ask. Good Question. What I mean is this simple fact. I cannot remember what a person looks like. I can slowly build certain faces in my mind but it takes an enormous amount of time and concentration. The people that I can build faces for in my mind have to be close family and friends, someone who I saw everyday for a long time. I don't know anyone else that recalls people this way. It seems like they can see a picture in their mind and immediately rattle off what a person looks like and how they act.
So how do I recognize people then?
Simple. I know who they are when I see them. Each person has their own pattern that I match them to. That's how I know you are who you are. My brain crunches your face, your body, your voice and returns a single value, hopefully. That is how I know that something about you has changed but I cannot tell you what. This is why I will not be able to tell if you have lost weight or cut your hair. This is also why I'll be able to recognize you after not seeing you for five years. Or at least I'll know that I knew you at one time.
Wait, go back to this pattern thing you mentioned.
Well, okay. Each person that I encounter is broken down into several parts and sorted into categories that fit said person. When you match all these parts, I can then say you are who you are. Make sense? No? Imagine holding a book of pictures that contain the images of every person I have ever met. Now imagine having to flip through every picture to match a person to a name, to memories. It'd take a long time, no? Fortunately, my brain is smarter than that. A much better example is that you can skip over pictures in this book if they don't match certain criteria. Think of that old game 'Guess Who' by Milton Bradley. This might also explain why I cannot picture someone without their glasses on or their hair dyed.
Okay, well - that makes sense. Sort of. Why are you rambling about this anyhow?
First and foremost, I'm curious to find out how other people remember their friends and family. Secondly, to post on LJ - so :-P
-- Andrew
I am here.
I have never understood how people can remember and describe the faces of people they know with clarity that rivals a photograph. How a person's attributes can be broken down into any specific part - only to be recalled at anytime.
What do I mean, you may ask. Good Question. What I mean is this simple fact. I cannot remember what a person looks like. I can slowly build certain faces in my mind but it takes an enormous amount of time and concentration. The people that I can build faces for in my mind have to be close family and friends, someone who I saw everyday for a long time. I don't know anyone else that recalls people this way. It seems like they can see a picture in their mind and immediately rattle off what a person looks like and how they act.
So how do I recognize people then?
Simple. I know who they are when I see them. Each person has their own pattern that I match them to. That's how I know you are who you are. My brain crunches your face, your body, your voice and returns a single value, hopefully. That is how I know that something about you has changed but I cannot tell you what. This is why I will not be able to tell if you have lost weight or cut your hair. This is also why I'll be able to recognize you after not seeing you for five years. Or at least I'll know that I knew you at one time.
Wait, go back to this pattern thing you mentioned.
Well, okay. Each person that I encounter is broken down into several parts and sorted into categories that fit said person. When you match all these parts, I can then say you are who you are. Make sense? No? Imagine holding a book of pictures that contain the images of every person I have ever met. Now imagine having to flip through every picture to match a person to a name, to memories. It'd take a long time, no? Fortunately, my brain is smarter than that. A much better example is that you can skip over pictures in this book if they don't match certain criteria. Think of that old game 'Guess Who' by Milton Bradley. This might also explain why I cannot picture someone without their glasses on or their hair dyed.
Okay, well - that makes sense. Sort of. Why are you rambling about this anyhow?
First and foremost, I'm curious to find out how other people remember their friends and family. Secondly, to post on LJ - so :-P
-- Andrew
I am here.