Back in college my friend George felt a sudden need to improve his memory and, for a few weeks, every time you'd see him he'd be carrying his little brain-training book. One of the tricks, I recall, was to create a vivid narrative to associate people's names with their faces. You could see him trying to do this at parties -- he'd stare at people fixedly. I never noticed that it had much of an impact; maybe he didn't practice enough.
In contrast, whatever the front-desk people at the Y are doing to improve their memories, it's working. They greet me by name every time I walk in, even staffers I don't know and would swear I've never seen before. Very impressive! I don't think Google glasses or face-recognition software is in play, but maybe they have a stash of ginger tea in the break room.
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