Co-authored with Deanne L. Westerman, the work shows that easily remembered faces increase the ability to remember the individual's name, regardless of what that name is. Cook explains: “Have you ever met someone, shaken their hand, and immediately forgotten their name? We usually blame our own bad memories, but it turns out, the problem might actually be their face. Our shows that our ability to remember a name depends on how memorable the person's face is. If they have a face that naturally sticks in your mind, then their name is much more likely to stick, regardless of what that name is.
“What's really fascinating is that this memory phenomenon seems unique to human faces. We tried pairing highly memorable photographs of scenes (e.g., a landscape or room) with different names, but that memory boost completely disappeared. Our brains seem to have a special, built-in system specifically designed to link faces and names together, which suggests some exciting real-world implications, too. Perhaps highly memorable faces can facilitate the learning of other information like new vocabulary or facts. Advertisers and politicians could also use this quirk of human memory to make sure their messages stick,” Cook said.
Posted May 6, 2026
