In 2009, psychological scientists
first used the term super-recognizer to describe four participants in a study
they conducted. According to the conclusions of the study, their findings
demonstrate the existence of people with exceptionally good face recognition
ability and show that the range of face recognition and face perception ability
is wider than has been previously acknowledged. More recently, researchers at
the University of Greenwich in London, is advancing this work. I talked to
researchers to find out more about this fascinating field of research. By
chance, they also one of the most recognizable people I have ever met.
According to them, approximately
1% of us may be super-recognizers. They might have this memory superpower. They
have already identified well over 1000 super-recognizers from around the world.
According them one of the problems is diagnosing super-recognition. Currently researchers
have tended to use two main criteria. First, excellent performance on short
term face memory tests using photos. Second, extraordinary subjective
experiences of real person recognition. However, it can be difficult to know
from lab-based tests how good a particular person is at real-life face
remembering, he concedes.
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