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 :)

My DH is like this. Meets someone once and remembers them forever...not necessarily the name, but he will know where he met them and when.

I suffer from mild face blindness, so quite a contrast between us!

I'm not sure if I am a super recogniser but I seem to have the ability to recognise faces.

I have been a witness to 2 separate armed robberies.

Worked in a bank and we were held up. I identified the robber at the identity parade. The old fashioned kind where you had to walk past them and pick them out. It went to court and he got 8 years.

I then witnessed an armed robbery at a jewellers. Picked all 3 out. There were loads of witnesses but I was the only one to id them.

Was due to go to court but they changed their plea the day before trial.

There are a few other times where I have recognised people but these are the main ones.

Ooh I just did that test and got 13 out of 14 so I think I am quite good at it.

I also am good at spotting London streets in films/TV series/remembering birthdays/noticing if you’ve had your hair done. Youngest child has the opposite though and mixes up family members, particularly if they are a bit boring 😂

Now that you mention it, yes my hand/eye co-ordination is spot on. I can use either hand to catch something with as well.

Snap. But I also struggle to “name” left and right without thinking and looking at my hands but can instantly tell you whether I am facing N/S/E/W 🤷🏼‍♀️

My memory is not as good as it used to be but I remember when I was younger I would hide the fact I remembered EVERYTHING so I wasn't considered weird or stalkery. Names, faces, phone numbers, random information.

That is strange I definitely can write, iron play sports either handed but struggle to know left from right

Yep I do the "which hand is which" thing as well. I can also memorize a route that I have only ever taken once before, whether it's driving or on foot.

I'm not sure I'm a super recogniser but my visual memory is fantastic, I do remember people I saw once before years ago on a bus or in town, then I see them again and can remember them but they would usually be memorable in some small way. Living with my husband now I think my memory is very good compared to his as I remember lots of information he doesn't like the plots of tv shows we last saw years ago and the I have to remind him of what happened where as I seem to recall it all. I have a weird ability with accents as well like being able to tell if someones parent is from overseas and sometimes or hearing an accent once then being able to recognise it elsewhere even in languages elsewhere I don't speak, I don't know what this is called but I@m a decent mimic so maybe to do with that. I have not monetised any of these gifts unfortunately.

No I'm not which is surprising as o have the memory of an elephant and don't forget a face. I scored really low on the Cambridge (?) survey .

Super recognisers are employed by the police . They’re people who can look through CCTV footage and pick out specific people, perhaps from a photo, a mugshot or another piece of film. Often used looking through things like football crowds when trouble kicks off, riots and when looking for missing persons.

My sister is!

'That man at the checkout once was a sub teacher for history for one lesson in 1994.'

No - I'm a few steps up from face blind.

Though it's genetic as I remember as a child many occasions my DP getting stopped and chatted to and afterward it emerging neither had a clue who they'd been talking to or which one knew them.

I do have a very good episodic memory - so once placed I can remember an awful lot about previous meetings. I have dire hand/eye co-ordination - diagnosed with dyspraxia.

I've had a few occasions with MIL and DH where they've wrongly identified a person as knowing them - with whole back story - and then it's turned out its actually me they know and when I realise that and can place them - so I have started to wonder if I'm not that bad and there are people like MIL and DH wondering around happily misidentifying people. Would explain why some people insist I or others were places at times we know we weren't.

All those “amazing” with faces

are you also “amazing “ with names?!

because otherwise must make life frustrating. You can place the face but not the name!

@Ohthatsexciting No not great with names and yes it causes problems!

I'm pretty good at this but never thought of it as a thing. My DC think I am weird because I can see someone that they knew in a hobby 20 years ago and recognise them, even though DC have no recollection of them at all. I can recognise anyone that I have met, even 40 years later, sometimes even people that I often saw but never really knew.

Actually I have done this today. Saw Olivia Coleman in Blakeney, a small Norfolk village. Dressed down, no make-ups and very fresh faced! She looked lovely but ‘mostly unrecognisable’ due to being dressed down and out of context. OH said now you mention it, it does look like OC but what would she be doing here. The same as everyone else I suppose 😬

She has recently moved near to Sandringham.

I can also do it with voices.

Despite being terrible at faces, I’m actually quite good with names.

There is an often-shown piece of film from WW1 in which a soldier carrying an injured man on his bank gives the camera a hard stare as he passes it.

There was an article in the paper about all the efforts to identify him. Family A thought it might have been their relative, loads of tests and analysis, very disappointed as the verdict was no. Family B thought it might have been their relative, again loads of tests and analysis and again disappointed as it was a no. Family C thought it might have been their relative, lots of tests and analysis and ooh yes they think it might be him.

I just looked briefly at the pictures and said A - nothing like him, B - nothing like him, C- that's the feller! I couldn't believe they had spent all this money analysing them.

Mind you I do get Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler mixed up though.

Yes! My Dad has prosopagnosia (diagnosed) and my mum is a super recogniser (diagnosed). I WAS a super recogniser , however I have ongoing cognitive affects of covid infection 20months ago and I think it has diminished my super abilities !

My ex is. He can walk past someone in the street in Glasgow and say “saw her at Luton airport 4 years ago”.

I barely recognise myself in the mirror.

I am. I somehow ended up on some study with Greenwich Uni and now they keep contacting me for more research. I don't do anything with it but I'm a secondary schoolteacher so I always say hi to kids from school even years and years after they have finished! It's a bit of an annoying thing though at times as I forget other people will have forgotten my face and they think they don't know me when I say hello. I have even been looked at as if I am a stalker when I have said to someone that we did a course or something together after 10 years. I'm shit with names though, it's just faces. Oh and places and directions too- once I've been somewhere I can always get back there. It was helpful in my 20s when I went travelling and could always lead my friends back to the hostel however drunk I was!

I think it helps to be quite nosy. I'm always gawping at people (much to DH and DCs' shame) which seems to log their faces into my long-term memory.

I am a super recogniser.
Unfortunately I am also a super name forgetter.

I am exactly the same, I can remember all sorts of things about someone’s family but not their name!