Page:Memory; how to develop, train, and use it - Atkinson - 1919.djvu/131

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
To Remember Faces
125

ing to induce an interest in the subject of features. A rudimentary course of study in drawing faces, particularly in profile, will also tend to make one “take notice” and will awaken interest. If you are required to draw a nose, particularly from memory, you will be apt to give to it your interested attention. The matter of interest is vital. If you were shown a man and told that the next time you met and recognized him he would hand you over $500, you would be very apt to study his face carefully, and to recognize him later on; whereas the same man if introduced casually as a “Mr. Jones,” would arouse no interest and the chances of recognition would be slim.

Halleck says: “Every time we enter a street car we see different types of people, and there is a great deal to be noticed about each type. Every human countenance shows its past history to one who knows how to look. . . . Successful gamblers often become so expert in noticing the slightest change of an opponent’s facial expression that they will estimate the strength of his hand by the involuntary signs which appear in the face and