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.

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.

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.

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.