Is anyone a super recogniser?

[TeethKicked]

I think that’s what they’re called. This fascinates me because I’m the complete opposite - I’ve been known to blank my own dc (unintentionally, just didn’t recognise them!)

If so, please can I ask:

1. How and when did you realise you had this ability?
2. What actually does it mean? Eg, does it mean you can see someone just once and then remember them when you see them again even if years have passed?
3. Can you/do you make use of your ability? Eg, work for the police?

Thank you :)

I don't know if I'm a 'super recogniser' but I definitely have an ability to remember faces. There was a race in my village this week which DP was taking part in and I went to support, saw a man who's face was so familiar and it had been bugging me ever since! Turns out I recognised him because he was in a local, amateur pantomime I went to see in January! So I've seen him once before but i knew I knew him from somewhere. DP on the other hand is useless, we can be watching TV and I ask what an actor was in prior and he can't name anything 😂

i did not know this was a specific thing, but if it is i think it applies to both me and my DH. It can sometimes be difficult to decide whether to admit to someone that we know who they are because they happened to be at the same one-off event as us many years ago, when they clearly have no idea who we are.
i can also immediately pick up small changes in appearance, e.g. i can always tell when someone at work has had a haircut even if just a trim (including the men).

I also remember names and random facts about people. DH is very good at recalling specific dates things happened, which i generally cant do.

Don't use in my job, although having a good memory generally is helpful. Do the odd party trick sometimes.

I read your title as super reorganiser. Which I am.

Super recognise? Not so much.

I met my sister in law at a party 30 years earlier when I was a child and remembered her. I don’t let people know. It’s weird.

Yes! People find it weird. I’ve been at Legoland and recognised a Mum from DS’ preschool (10 years ago).

I try not to mention it.

No, I'm hopeless at faces.

I recognise voices, sounds, places, smells. Can read maps, always know which way is north, can find my way around new places in the dark or bad weather, but hopeless with faces.

I once blanked my Sil and her two dds, which went down very badly. 🤗

My best friend is amazing at faces, even if she’s not seen them from school since we left 30 years ago (and not on FB with them) she’ll recognise them - even bald, fat men who look nothing like their skinny 16-year-old version. Luckily they usually remember her too (as she’s not changed much and they were mostly in love with her at school).

I’m the opposite. Particularly bad with men. A film like Band of Brothers is pointless for me, I’d never follow it. At work too it’s sometimes an issue. Boss- “who said that in the meeting?” Me: “Um… a grey-haired man” [they were all grey-haired men…]

My husband is, he never forgets a face, or the context of when he has met the person. He can freak people out though when he remembers someone and knows details about them and they don’t remember/ recognize him!

He remembers car registration plates and can tell you where the car parks, the street it lives in, when we passed it last week in the next town etc.

It has been a useful skill in his career as a PC.
He recognizes that it’s unusual but can’t explain how he does it, and gets (mock) frustrated with me when I don’t recognize things that he sends so clearly.
Its fascinating!

Oh and that’s why I love Teams/Zoom, with everyone’s names there in front of them.

I'm the opposite. I cannot remember faces.

My fil is a godamned legend at this. He recognises people from chance meetings years prior and he remembers all sorts of things about them. He's incredibly sociable so this is no mean feat. As a result, you can't go anywhere with him, in his own country, over here, any country in between on holiday where he doesn't meet someone he already knows. It's uncanny.

Not a super recogniser, but have heard of it and there are jobs for people with that skill including Police jobs in other countries. superrecognisersinternational.com/agency/

On the other end of the scale is Brad Pitt in the news yesterday saying that he probably has "face blindness".

Meanwhile, I have to scratch around for old Christmas cards to remember my neighbour's names 😬

Very interesting as I would classify my husband as one. He has an astonishing ability to recognise people. It is almost creepy eg he can say oh that is the same waiter that worked at x restaraunt, when we last went there (3 years ago).

Myself on the other hand almost have a disability in that I do not recognise people at all. It is embarasing people can come up hi Nicolarer and I have no idea who they are.

Yes I generally remember faces, names birthdays amd football teams of people. People from primary school, their cousins etc.

I agree people find it weird, so I don't really mention it. I often don't say hi to people in the street anymore (unless I have spoken to them very recently) as there's been times I've said hi and had a very strange look.

It’s amazing how people can recognise faces last seen 30 odd years ago! Cannot get my head around that at all!

As well as having face blindness, I struggle with left and right. I wondered if the 2 things were connected but obviously not in your case@MintJulia.

I signed up for some research about this after I watched a programme about it. Turns out I am not a proper super-recogniser but I am very good at it – just not in the top few percent who get jobs in the police force etc. I rarely forget a face and can usually remember where I’ve seen someone before, as well as any details about them that I’ve either been told or observed. I recently caught up with an old friend from 25 years ago – enquired about another friend of theirs who I’d met briefly a couple of times back then. I remembered their name, that they’d been about to go to Australia, that they’d recently split from a partner and that they wore glasses and had floppy 90s-style hair. Original friend thought this was very odd of me. DH is the total opposite and I often have to rescue him in social situations because he’s confused two people or forgotten who they are.

I am very good at faces, and often remember where I met them previously.

But terrible, really really bad at names.

Which makes the face recognition useless for anything practical.

And yeah I tend not to mention it. “Hi, I recognise you, we did a baby music class together 10 years ago” just comes across as weird and stalkery.

I did mention it the other day at a work event (we’d been on a year long course together! I thought she might remember me…) but still, got looked at like a lunatic.

interesting topic

. I’m am the opposite..is there a name for that? Face blindness? Or just useless memory?

I am worse when I see someone in a pace that I would not see them normally or away form place I normally meet them. I once spent 4 days teaching adults in Canada , one guy I was so impressed with as asked lots of questions and engaged, called him by his name numerous times. Literally 3 days later, back in uk, someone says hi in reception to me, I have no idea who he was…he read that said “you’ve got no idea who I’m am” , I fessed up…same guy…I was suitably embarrassed and apologetic.
But here’s the thing…I was in role that was meeting new people constantly with intense interaction by name over a few days, then onto the next group. And then not back to first group until maybe 4 months later. I was probably meeting and interacting with a 500 new people each year. I believe my brain just could not lay down long term memory of all those faces. just overloading. So It just dumped info asap for the stuff that mattered in the moment.

similarly with my old school friends- I went to reunion and could not recognise most people. But most I hadn’t really though about in years- mainly becuase I’m introverted and don’t think about people much anyway as a individual activity. My friend I went with, a very extrovert person who talks about people she knows constantly, remembers every single face. She also doesn’t have a career, and mostly is involved with smaller familiar groups like school governments, PTA, social activities

so I do wonder whether the amount of people you’re interacting with and being introvert vs extrovert plays a factor in our ability to remember faces?

however, I am aware some people do have this exceptional super power and I guess some of us are stuck with a super handicap of face blindness 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣

DS1 is to some extent - he can recognise random actors in films, tv programmes or adverts and tell me what they've been in before!

Forgot to answer the questions in the OP

1. I’ve always been like it but didn’t realise until I was older that not everyone is the same.
2. Yes, I can see or meet someone once, or only briefly, and particularly if we speak I just won’t forget them and will remember the next time we meet, whether that’s the week after or many years after.
3. I think it does help me with networking etc in my job - at professional conferences I remember almost everyone I speak to and often freak them out by remembering them/our conversation even several years later when I run into them again. I also have a knack for remembering other people’s friends on social media so I often recognise people in real life that I only know of online via someone else, which can be a bit spooky.

I'm good at this, maybe not super recogniser levels but I can usually remember people, names and things about them. I work with very vulnerable families and it's amazing how much people trust you when you remember their kids names and ask after their medical conditions for example. I have almost a 100% success rate in my job and I think it's largely because of this skill.

It can be a bit awkward if they don't remember me though. It helps that I live a long way from where I grew up so my accent sticks out and after a few seconds of hearing me I can see that people catch on who I am and where they know me from.

Yes I recognise immediately everyone I have ever met. Can recognise people on tv immediately and remember every single thing anyone has ever said to me so people often look at me a bit strange when ten years later I mention their children and their names etc I have a terrible day to day memory and constantly live with post it notes with lists otherwise I would forget everything. The brain is fascinating.

I'm not so good on faces and names but my speciality is remembering the colour - the exact shade of something. Discovered this was unusual as I used to frequent a lovely fabric shop, pop the rolls of fabric I was buying on the counter for the lady to cut, then go to the thread display and pick out the exact correct shades to go with the fabric I was buying. Shop owner was fascinated by this and said it was very unusual. Comes in handy when I spot something that will exactly match an item I already have. Does this ability have a name like super recogniser does?