I know I'm not the only one who has a hard time greeting a colleague by their name when we see each other somewhere even when it's inside the university where we basically see each other every day. People would say it's so rude, but I say it's just a natural brain thing. Want to find out why? Then keep reading this article.

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Our camera-like brain

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Yes, my dear millennial, our brains are like Instagram. We all know that when we browse photos in the Explore section of Instagram, we register the visual information more--"damn she hot", "goddamn, this place is lit!", "jeez, what a life!"--not even remembering the username of those people who posted those photos until a proper stalking/obsession happens.

If you're wondering why I did not even explain right there the exact camera-like nature of our brain, well in case you haven't noticed yet, it's sort of how a camera works. It recognizes images not necessarily texts--I mean sure cameras have the file names, etc. (whatever you may want to argue), but its specialty is definitely its ability to capture a photo and have it stored.

It is also a fact that our brains have a committed processor that is responsible for our excellent facial recognition features which causes such inclination of ours to identify people through their face that also grew stronger as we evolved.

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Names are so boring

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Come to think of it, when we talk to a friend and share an experience we had with someone they don't know, the name of the subject doesn't really register in their mind, only the description you made that is left as an impression to them. Unlike when you tell a friend a story about an apple, they surely are going to remember everything because an apple is a fruit which they could easily associate with so many things--I mean it's not like a complicated European name that is forced to Philippine indigenous people to remember.

Also, we don't really make efforts into remembering names of people we meet who are not particularly striking. I remember the full name of my funny great grandmother who I have only met a few times my entire life, and I was so young then, but I hardly remember the name of this almost invisible girl in my university who I share at least five classes with and that of some famous Filipino hero in my textbook I know I won't really need in my life.

Names are really meaningless!

We do not pay much attention to it in a way, because it does not really say anything about the person. A Samantha might enjoy fishing, playing the piano, etc., but you'll never really know that by learning her name. It's a plain coincidence though that maybe a bunch of Craig's broke a lot of girls' hearts in high school that all Craig's are automatically perceived like that, but still, it does not really make sense to judge someone by their name--but their parents who named them maybe, sure.

references:

• Psychology Today
• The Atlantic

img sources:

• Camera brain
• So not sexy
• Meaningless