1. Some People Never Forget a Face
A newstudyfinssome people canrememberfacesof peopletheymetyearsagoandonlyin
passing.Othersof us,of course,aren’tblessedwiththisabibility.Infactabout2 percentof the
populationhasprosopagnosia,aconditioncharacterizedbygreatdifficultyinrecognizing
faces.
The “super-recognizers”,astheyare called,excel atrecallingfaces.The studysuggestthat
there is –as withmany things- abroad spectrumof abilityinthisrealm.The researchinvolved
standardizedface recognitiontests,andthe super-recognizersscoredfarabove average on
these tests.Oftensuper-recognizersare able torecognize anotherpersondespite significant
changesinapperance,suchas agingor a differenthaircolor.Theyalsorecognize otherpeople
far more oftenthantheyare recognized.Inthese cases,theyoftencompensatebypretending
not to recognize someone theymetinpassing,soasto avoidappearingtoattibute toomuch
importante toa brief encounter.
Super-recognizers,then,reallystandoutintermsof theirabilitytorememberpeople.They
have extreme storiesof recognizingpeople;itdoesn’thave tobe a significantinteraction.They
can recognize someone whowasshoppinginthe same store withthemtwomonthsago,for
example,evenif theydidn’tspeaktothe person.One womaninthe new studysaidshe had
identifiedanotherwomanonthe streetwhoserverherasa waitressfive yearsearlierina
differentcity.Thisoutstandingabilitycouldbe importantin courts,where one person’s
eyewitnesstestimonymightthusbe more crediblethananotherbasedontheirvarying
abilitiestorecognize aface.
