The last thing you need is to misplace an item, especially when you’re in a hurry and it’s very valuable. But if you know how to search methodically, you have a good chance of finding it more easily.
A mobile phone lost around the house can still be found if it’s not switched off, but keys, a card, an ID, or a small earring are harder to locate. A methodical search, however, can pinpoint them without the need to rummage through the entire house aimlessly, saving you from frustration and wasting time.
Several experts in visual search, a metal detection enthusiast, and a detective explained to NPR how lost objects can be found more easily. According to them, there are six effective strategies.
Method 1: Identify what makes the object stand out
It could be the size, color, texture, or shape of the object. Then, search based on that unique characteristic. This will make the process faster and more efficient, says Arryn Robbins, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Richmond, specializing in visual search.
Instead of looking at everything in your house, this approach helps you focus your attention only on objects with that specific feature.
Robbins recently used this tactic when she lost the back part of a rose gold earring on a carpet of a similar color. So, she changed her visual strategy to focus on anything shiny and reflective. "As soon as I thought about it, I saw it, almost instantly," she said.
Method 2: Think about how the item could have been lost and where it might be
This is how Demian Garcia, a metal detection enthusiast from Northern California, helps his clients find lost jewelry in challenging places like parks, beaches, and roads.
Before turning on the metal detector, he starts his search by asking basic questions. "Do you have specific places where you normally put it? Where have you lost it before?" he says.
If you've lost your ring, for example, look where you usually put it: the nightstand, the jewelry box, the bathroom counter. If you've lost your ring in the car before - because you play with it while driving - check there too.
Then, think of any specific situations that could have led you to lose the ring. Garcia reviews the typical ways people lose rings from their hands. "Did you throw something that day? Did you wash something with cold water? Did you apply lotion?"
That's because cold water can contract the tissues of the palm, and lotions can make fingers slipperier, causing the ring to fall off more easily. These questions can help you come up with a more precise strategy on where to search.
Method 3: Recreate the movement of the object in the area where you remember losing it
The way the object falls, lands, or moves can provide clues about where what you're looking for might be. Garcia uses this tactic when clients lose a ring because they threw it out the window or across the room - usually during an argument.
Garcia remembers helping a woman who threw her wedding ring out the car window. "She kept saying, 'I threw it right there,'" he says.
Garcia wondered: Was it really there? To test the theory, he took a cheap ring, tied a long red ribbon to it, and asked the woman to throw it out the car window, just like she did with her wedding ring. "She threw it three times in a row, and it never went straight out the window. It flew back behind the car," he says. Thanks to this technique, he managed to find her ring.
Method 4: Break out of the search routine and change your perspective
Professionals searching for missing persons, such as search and rescue teams, don't just look in one place when searching for missing people in the wilderness, says Michael Hout, a cognitive psychologist and director of the Vision and Memory Sciences Lab at New Mexico State University.
They scan the surroundings 360 degrees. This means "looking down, looking up, looking left and right, bending to change your perspective, turning around to see things that weren't visible when you first approached them," says Hout.
You might be surprised by what you find. "A windbreaker someone took off when it got warm, for example, could have been lifted by the wind and blown into a bush or a tree," he says.
Method 5: Search in strange and unexpected places
If you can't find your keys in the usual places - in your purse, in your pocket, on the entryway table - "search in low-probability areas," says Hout. "Sometimes, people put their keys in odd places. Maybe they dropped them. Or someone moved them."
Method 6: Divide the space into sections, then search carefully in each
Grid searching, as this strategy is called, is a form of systematic search, says Robbins.
It is sometimes used in search and rescue as a last resort to find missing persons. But it can also be a useful tool if you can't find something in a cluttered room, where the distinctive features of the missing object may be hard to notice.
"It will be slow and less efficient, but I assure you that you will find the thing you're looking for," says Robbins. "Imagine the search environment as a grid. Cover each square of the grid, maybe from top to bottom, from left to right."
The idea is to have a thorough search strategy without having to remember every place you've already analyzed, she says.
You don't necessarily have to measure out a grid. Just imagine dividing the search environment into smaller units - sections of a room, pieces of furniture - and then check those units in an order that makes sense to you. If needed, use Post-it notes to mark where you've already searched.
T.D.