You can remember the face, but can’t put a name to it.
你能想起一個人長什麼樣，卻怎麼也記不起他的名字。
Many of us have been caught in this embarrassing situation. But researchers say it is often easier to remember someone’s name than what they look like.
相信大家都遇到過這樣的尷尬時刻。不過研究人員表示，記住名字往往比記住長相更容易。
Twenty-four volunteers were shown 40 pictures of strangers, paired with random names. They were given time to memorise the faces and names before being tested on which they thought they had seen before.
研究人員向24名志願者展示了40張陌生人的照片，並隨機給這些人取了名字。在測試他們是否見過這些人之前，研究人員給了他們時間去記住這些面孔和名字。
The participants could remember up to 85 per cent of the names but only 73 per cent of the faces.
結果顯示，志願者能夠記住多達85%的人名，但只能夠記住73%的人的長相。
When they were shown a different picture of the same person, the participants could recall only 64 per cent of faces, according to the study, led by the University of York.
這項由約克大學(University of York)牽頭的研究顯示，當研究對象看到同一個人的不同照片時，他們只能回憶起64%的人的長相。
That may be because faces are only recognised visually, while names can be both spoken and written down so appear in our visual and audio memory.
這可能是因為人們只能從視覺上辨認面孔，而名字既可以念出來，又可以寫下來，因此能夠出現在人們的視覺和聽覺兩種記憶方式當中。
When people were shown celebrities, they also remembered their names with slightly more accuracy than their photographs.
當人們看到名人的時候，記住他們名字的準確率要比記住長相的要高。
Co-author Dr Rob Jenkins, from the university’s psychology department, said: 『Our study suggests that, while many people may be bad at remembering names, they are likely to be even worse at remembering faces.
該研究聯合作者、約克大學心理學專業羅布·詹金斯博士指出，「研究報告顯示很多人對於人名的記憶能力很差，他們對於長相的記憶能力可能會更差。」
This will surprise many people as it contradicts our intuitive understanding. Our life experiences with names and faces have misled us about how our minds work.』
「很多人會對此感到驚訝，因為這和我們的直觀認知相矛盾。其實，我們記住長相和名字的生活經驗使我們對大腦的思維方式產生了誤導。」
Remembering names gets harder with age, leading to many uncomfortable moments for middle-aged people when they run into acquaintances.
不過，隨著年齡的增長，人們要記住名字就會變得越來越困難，這也就使一些中年人在遇到熟人的時候想不起對方叫什麼，場面變得比較尷尬。
But to study whether names are harder to recall than faces, the researchers, whose findings are published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, used a 『fair test』 where the participants were presented with strangers』 names and faces.
但是，在研究名字是否比長相更難被記住時，研究人員使用了一種「公平化測試」——即參與者要記住的是陌生的名字和面孔。這種研究結果發表在《實驗心理學季刊》上。