That trick about linking a name to a mental picture points to a deeper problem. We've lost the natural memory aids that came with slower, community-based living. In a village, you'd know "Baker John" or "Anna, daughter of the blacksmith." Now we meet dozens of people stripped of any context, just a name and a job title floating in a conference room. Our brains aren't bad, they're just trying to process introductions that carry no weight, no story, no connection to place. Forcing a silly image is a modern hack for an ancient social function we've engineered away.

Sometimes old school methods get you there faster.

Concrete's more temperamental than I am before coffee...