Why You Mix Up Names Of People And Pets You Love

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In the TV show 'Friends', Ross uttered Rachel's (his former girlfriend) name instead of Emily's (his fiancée) in a major 'oops' moment. A study now proves that such mix-ups are actually quite common. In a study published in the journal Memory & Cognition, Samantha Deffler found that mixing-up names is actually a pretty normal cognitive glitch and is not related to ageing or memory loss. When we need to retrieve a name quickly, we pick up any name from the same folder of the brain.

Neil Mulligan, a cognitive scientist at UNC Chapel Hill told the Cosmopolitan, "When your mom calls you by your brother's name, just know it's because you're both in the "I LOVE MY FAMILY SO MUCH" folder and not in the "HOLY SHIT MOM IS LOSING HER MIND" folder." Deffler, a cognitive scientist at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, says that the 'family' folder can go on to include your siblings, your romantic relationships and even your pets.

She did a survey on 1,700 men and women of different ages and found that almost everyone makes naming mistakes and mix up the names of their family and friends. She suggests that it happens because of how brain categorizes names. We store the names of people we love in special folders for 'family' or 'friends'. When one has to call someone from the folder, they may pick up just any name from the folder and utter it.

The NPR adds a very interesting thing to this point. Moms make the most naming mistakes. When moms need to call someone quickly, they quickly pick one from competing names and go with whatever comes to their mind just then.

The study also finds that pet dogs get counted as family member too. According to Deffler, people tend to mix up only their dogs' names with their family members. Other pets such as cats or hamsters do not fall under the same category. Mulligan explains that it happens because psychologically, we accept dogs as one of our own more than other pets.