脸盲症伤不起:轻松记住外貌和名字的五个方法

1. Look at the person’s eyes. The face itself, and specifically the eyes, contain the window not just to the soul, but to good face memory. The eyes are a feature of a person least likely to vary over time or under different circumstances. Apart from the aging process, which adds a few wrinkles here and there, people’s eyes don’t really change. By focusing on this nonvarying piece of anatomy, you'll be less tricked by changes in hair length or color, clothing, and even body shape and height.

1. 注视一个人的眼睛。脸尤其是眼睛不仅是一个人心灵的窗口，还是面部记忆的窗口。无论在任何情况下，眼睛是一个人最不可能随时间变迁而改变的特征。除了会因岁月而留下一些皱纹外，人的眼睛实际上是不会变化的。只要留意这一不变的特征，你很少会被头发长短与颜色、着装甚至是体型及身高的等的变化而蒙骗。

2. Use “deep” processing of information. When you’re trying to learn a word list, for instance, you should not just look at the words, or even think about how they sound. Your best memory will be for those items whose meaning you contemplate. Put those words in a sentence or form your own associations to them, no matter how oddball they may seem. In fact, the more oddball the better. When it comes to faces, this is a trick that memory experts strongly advise. Form associations between a person’s name and that person’s face (particularly the eyes). Think of what the name reminds you of (“Tina” might turn into “tea”), and paste that association onto the person’s face.

2. 信息深加工。例如，在学习单词表时你不应当只关心单词本身，甚至还要考虑单词的发音。你记得最牢的是那些意义与你的期望相符的词义。尽管可能很古怪，但用这些单词造句或形成你对他们的独特联想却是一种很好的记忆方法。事实上，方法越古怪越好。涉及到面部记忆时，记忆专家们极力推崇这一方法，在一个人的名字及其面部间形成联想。首先是联想一个人的名字给以你的提示（如从“Tina”联想到“tea”），然后再将该提示对号入座地契合到这个人的外貌。

3. Find out the names ahead of time, when possible. As the brain scan study showed, people did better at learning names when they saw the names ahead of time. This is very possible to do when you’re going on an interview (assuming you get the schedule first) or to a party where guests have RSVP’d to a public link. It’s no help if you’re meeting someone for the first time with no advance warning, unfortunately. However, since there are many more situations than you might realize that do allow advance prep, you might as well take advantage of this strategy. For example, an instructor should review the list of students on the roster prior to the first class, so at least you’ll have someplace to start. If the class is small enough. As you take attendance, write little notes to yourself next to each student’s name that will give you a unique image for each one.

3. 尽可能提前知道名称。如脑扫描研究所示，人们对事先看到过的名称会掌握得更好。这在面试中（假如你提前准备过）或宴会上（假如宴会提供了客人联系清单）都是可能做到的。不幸的是，对于初次见面的人，采用这样的方法显然没用。不过，有许多场合你可以提前准备，只是自己没有意识到，因此这种方法还是可行的。例如，老师在上第一堂课前应当看下学生名单，这样你至少知道了大概情况。如果班级不大，在点名时你就可以依次在每个学生的名字栏加以备注，这样你就会对每个名称产生一个独特的印象。

4. Really listen when you’re introduced to someone new. So often we’re distracted when we meet a new person, we might not even catch the name at all. If you’re at a large party or other social scene, you might not even hear the name very clearly. Afterwards, it’s too embarrassing to ask it again. If you give yourself an extra second to process that name together with the face, it will increase the odds astronomically that you’ll remember the name and face better. Also, you don’t have to be embarrassed about asking for a person’s name a second time (or even third). This even can enhance your social standing because you’ll look like a person who at least making an effort. If you're lucky, people will have name tags, so add the visual to the auditorycues, and you'll be good to go.

4. 认真聆听新引见的人的名字。与陌生人见面时我们往往会受到干扰，可能很快就忘了他们的名字。若是在大型宴会或其他社交场合，甚至连他们的名字都难听清，但要再去问别人的话又很尴尬。只要你抽出片刻时间来处理名字及其对应的面孔，这会大大增加它们的独特性，你将更好地记住它们。另外，你没有必要因为两次（甚至是三次）问别人的名字而感到尴尬，这样做甚至还有可能提高你的社会地位，因为这让你看起来至少是一个用心做事的人。有些场合会提供客人的姓名标签（胸牌或桌牌等），这样通过“视听结合”你会很好地记住他们的名字。

5. Practice the face-name game at home. Practicing celeb’s names is a low-risk way to enhance your face memory skills. As you’re watching your favorite movies or TV shows at home, go ahead and consult a movie or TV data base, which will allow you to work on forming name-face associations with people whose feelings you can’t possibly hurt. You can also diagnose your weaknesses with this simple exercise. Perhaps you’re worse at remembering men’s names, or perhaps you look too much at the changing features of a person’s costumes and disguises. You can even work out a scoring system and track your progress as the weeks go by.

5. 在家练习玩外貌—名称游戏。要提高你当然外貌记忆技能，拿名人的名字来练习是一种比较可靠的方法。在家看喜欢的电影或电视剧时，查下相关的数据库可以增强你对有关人物名称—面部的关联作用，而且这不会伤到他们的情感。这样的简单练习还可以诊断你的缺点。比如，你也许不擅长于记住男士的名称，或你太过于关注一个人的穿着打扮等变化特征。你甚至可以制定一个计分系统，每隔几周一次测量你所取得的进步。