I want one thing - tell me people's names. I have the unholy ability to say your name several times and have an hour long conversation, and still not remember it next time I see you. People take this so personally that I've started avoiding some social gatherings where I only lightly know people! I'd love to "know" the name of everyone I've met because I'd be so much more comfortable seeing and talking to them again!
Are you me? I have the same issue, when I see someone not in my immediate circle and out of context, say on the street, it takes me some time to recall their name from my jumbled memory.
If there’s context (eg I go to another department at work, or see my child’s friend with their parent) I can get their name easier. But that barrier for being out of context can be difficult to surmount.
I’m curious if you also find yourself having trouble to remembering other names when in conversation (eg what was that politician called, what’s that city name, it begins with an F…)
Usually it’s proper nouns that I have trouble recalling. It’s almost like I need an Anki to refresh my mental DRAM and keep things recallable.
Yes I very much have those problems. It's strange because I'm objectively a good engineer, but semantic retrieval is very difficult for me. It has been my entire life.
When I was a kid I did a round of testing for ADHD, and one of the tests is category fluency. Basically they gave me a category (e.g. Breakfast foods) and told me to say as many words in that category as I could in 60 seconds. I failed miserably; the administrator told me it was essentially as bad as people with severe cognitive deficiency. I just haven't worked about it since then! (Except with names!!)
You must be young. Social well being is the number 1 indicator of happiness, and is indeed correlates with long life. If this one change was enough for someone to be more social and spend more time with a wider group of people, it could have many positive effects. I see this in my life.
