With that said, there was one really cool (and really short) article about face recognition in Psychologies. Psychologists have recently discovered that there are people who are super-recognizers; that is, they never forget a face--be it the milkman, a taxi driver, or your doctor's receptionist. (Finally, an article about me! Haha, just kidding, all articles are about me, and if not, I find ways. Same goes for craigslist missed connections posts...."I wasn't really walking on West Cliff but I was definitely walking on Saturday, how sweet of him to notice me!" haha) They discovered super-recognizers in their research and work with people who suffer from prosopagnosia, or face-blindness. It is thought that 10% of the population are affected with prosopagnosia, which is A LOT of people, especially considering I didn't know it was a thing until last night. Crazier still, people are either born with prosopagnosia or it is caused by damage to the brain.
"Earlier this year researchers in Barcelona discovered that we tend to recognize people by their eyes, followed by their mouths and nose, but people with face-blindness are not able to remember facial features. They can identify their friends by their hairstyle, clothes or voices, but never by their face. If a friend cuts their hair short they might not recognize them and in extreme cases parents have been known to pick up the wrong child from nursery."
Well, I'm not surprised about that last bit. All kids look the same, especially babies! I could be the top of my face-recognition class but I'd still probably take home the wrong child. Why do you think so many maternity-ward switcheroos happen? They should attach some sort of collar or bracelet to babies that chirps when you push a button....exactly like how people find their cars in large lots when they forget where they parked. I can just see parents wondering parks and playgrounds with their clickers in hand, trying to remember where they parked their kids!
Additionally, there are computer-based tests for testing super-recognizing ability. These tests present you with an endless array of bald men's faces and you have to spot the faces the computer has already shown you. Sounds pretty fun. I think I'm up to the challenge. Bald men's faces is a specialty of mine.
In the article, the super cool face recognition research is framed around a story the author tells about how awkward introductions are for her because she always recognizes the person she is being introduced to but the other person doesn't recognize her. Boo-hoo. And later, the moral of the story is to remember that you aren't forgettable, it's just that others aren't super-recognizers like you. Hahah that is just stupid. You don't have to coddle us, Psychologies. Some of us are totally forgettable. And don't patronize us like bunny rabbits, either!
Makes me wonder how those with face-blindness perceive caricatures. I know that on average, we can recognize caricatures of people more easily than actual photographs of people. Strange, huh? Most caricatures are just huge heads--so the clothing and voice of the person is absent. And hair is often exaggerated. I bet they gain no pleasure in them.
Do you think you are a super-recognizer?
Take some tests, jerk. This one is super easy- you basically try to recognize famous faces. Or you can take this daunting but official-seeming test here. (Click on Judge Identity and Emotion of Faces)
My results: I kick major ass on famous people faces (duhhh) and I'm above average on Cambridge Face Memory Test and Queens Square Identity Discrimination Test, but only average on the QS Emotion Discrimination Test. Not top of my class, but pretty up there. So I won't be offended when I remember you but you don't remember me. WINK.
How do you think your above-average facial recognition would do when seeing baby pictures of people you already know, since all babies look the same to you? THAT would be an interesting study!
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