Extract from ABC News
In short:
US President Joe Biden has been criticised after accidentally referring to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, as "vice-president Trump".
Neuroscientists say it is very common to accidentally misnaming someone or something.
The brain groups names which are related or sound similar and can draw on the wrong one under stress or when lacking sleep.
Has your mum ever called you by your sister's name? Does your dad sometimes yell for you when he is actually talking to the dog?
Misnaming is a common cognitive slip which has been in the spotlight after US President Joe Biden's unfortunate press conference where he mixed up the name of his own vice-president Kamala Harris with his political nemesis, Donald Trump.
Earlier, Mr Biden had to correct himself after introducing Ukrainian's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin" to an audience of journalists.
The gaffes have not helped quell growing speculation about the fitness of the current president to do the job for another four years if he wins another term in November.
However, brain scientists say misnaming people is not always a sign of cognitive decline, but rather a "common slip-up" that can be brought on by stress, not enough sleep, or a lack of concentration.
Why do we forget or misname people we know?
Clinical Neuropsychologist and Senior Research Fellow at Flinders University Stephanie Wong said the brain tends to group names which are related or sound the same.
Under stress, without proper sleep, or if we are not concentrating, the brain will reach for those similar sounding or grouped names when we speak.
That is why family members commonly misname one another, and could be an explanation of Mr Biden's mix-up with Ms Harris and Mr Trump.
"It seems to be related to the way our brains process language," Dr Wong said.
"When you bring to mind one thing, it is likely that your brain will also be activating similar neural patterns for related names or objects.
"And so, because it's sort of like a network, the likelihood you might bring up a related name is higher, because they're all kind of linked, and stored in close proximity."
A study from researchers at Duke University in 2016 found misnaming happening most frequently between family members and close friends — regardless of age.
Sorting names into categories is one way our brains try to keep up with the onslaught of information we take in when awake.
"Really, this is an efficiency thing," Dr Wong said.
"The brain kind of organises names that are similar in a similar sort of region so that this information can be kind of retrieved faster."
Could misnaming be an early sign of cognitive decline?
Neuroscientist Damian Holsinger from the University of Sydney specialises in Alzheimer's disease and said it would be unfair to assume Mr Biden is in a state of cognitive decline based only on naming slip-ups.
"There is no correlation," he said.
"This is probably aged-related memory decline, not dementia."
Dr Holsinger said brains do not produce new neurons, the nerve cells which send and receive messages to your brain, and so over time the total number starts to decline.
"From about the age of 40 onwards, the entire body starts slowing down. As we age, we do forget things."
However, age is not the only thing which might cause a brain to reach for the wrong name. Sleep plays a critical role in memory and retention.
"Sleep is critically important, we have linked sleep, to memory loss, dementia," Dr Holsinger said.
"When we sleep it gives our body and our brains time to actually get rid of all the toxins that are in the system."
So, should you be worried if you start calling your mum the name of your goldfish? Dr Wong said while it is good to be cautious, you are probably fine.
"Slipping-up saying the wrong name is very common," she said.
"But if this is something that is quite uncharacteristic, and if it does become particularly worse, then someone might be worried about cognitive decline or dementia".
Are some people just destined to be worse with names than others?
Dr Holsinger admits he is often apologising for calling someone by the wrong name.
"I actually do say that to people, I'm sorry, I'm really bad with names," he said.
It can feel like some people are more likely to get it wrong than others, and Dr Holsinger thinks that could be true.
"Every single person is different, and there are certain things I emphasise that you may not.
"You might actually be very focused on people's names, right? For me, the face of the person and the person's behaviour is probably more important than the person's name."
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