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Are you a super recogniser?


MMATycoon

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Super recogniser basically just means that you're shit hot at remembering people's faces. It's something that I'm quite interested in cos I'm one. I actually contacted my local police force to see if they wanted any help with anything, after seeing an article on super recognisers in the London police force but the Leeds police had no idea what I was talking about.

 

Anyway, I just saw another article about super recognisers on the BBC website tonight, which had a test attached to it;

Article here

Test here

 

I got 13 out of 14 which was a bit annoying. Got the last one wrong cos I wasn't really paying attention.

 

Thought it would be interesting to post it here and see how you guys did. It's a 5 minute test at first then if you're any good (over 10/14), you get a link to a 20 minute test. I'm gunna have a crack at that one tomorrow.

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Super recogniser basically just means that you're shit hot at remembering people's faces. It's something that I'm quite interested in cos I'm one. I actually contacted my local police force to see if they wanted any help with anything, after seeing an article on super recognisers in the London police force but the Leeds police had no idea what I was talking about.

 

Anyway, I just saw another article about super recognisers on the BBC website tonight, which had a test attached to it;

Article here

Test here

 

I got 13 out of 14 which was a bit annoying. Got the last one wrong cos I wasn't really paying attention.

 

Thought it would be interesting to post it here and see how you guys did. It's a 5 minute test at first then if you're any good (over 10/14), you get a link to a 20 minute test. I'm gunna have a crack at that one tomorrow.

Nope, only got 7 out of 14

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Super recogniser basically just means that you're shit hot at remembering people's faces. It's something that I'm quite interested in cos I'm one. I actually contacted my local police force to see if they wanted any help with anything, after seeing an article on super recognisers in the London police force but the Leeds police had no idea what I was talking about.

 

 

Just one question why would you volunteer help the cops?

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I have a Bachelor's in Psychology. I'm also completely wrecked by insomnia.

 

13/14. Winning. Or really I have severe anxiety which causes me to be over-observant. In real life I'm amazing at faces and fucking suck at names. I forget names 3 seconds after being told them. Yet, I will remember a face for years and years. It takes a few times meeting someone for their name to stick, but then its like a face. I never forget it.

 

I think I'd be the most amazing cop if all of my friends weren't criminals. :)

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Because Mike's British and our Police force isn't out of control and over-militarised.

 

I got 10/14

I would also gladly help the police here where I live(netherlands) and also where I'm from (Portugal)

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I have a Bachelor's in Psychology. I'm also completely wrecked by insomnia.

 

13/14. Winning. Or really I have severe anxiety which causes me to be over-observant. In real life I'm amazing at faces and fucking suck at names. I forget names 3 seconds after being told them. Yet, I will remember a face for years and years. It takes a few times meeting someone for their name to stick, but then its like a face. I never forget it.

 

I think I'd be the most amazing cop if all of my friends weren't criminals. :)

 

Interesting cos that all applies to me too. I did psychology as an elective at uni, stay up till stupid oclock every night and can never remember names.... I dunno why but when people tell me their names, I basically just don't listen.

 

How do you reckon you do it then? It said in that article that most people don't really know how they do it but I'd say I'm looking mostly at the spacing of facial features first. In general though, I just think it's a photographic memory type thing. I also had a funny incident at a pub quiz years ago in a pictures round (guessing celebrity faces). My missus thought it was Eva Longoria but I was like

"nah, I think it's someone called Kate Beckinsale."

"who's she?"

"I dunno. I couldn't even tell you what she looks like."

 

I honestly had no idea what she looked like or who she was but this picture just sort of triggered something in my brain. Obviously it was her, otherwise I wouldn't have told the story :P

 

Can you also do it with voices? I can always tell who's talking on the radio, with interviews of obscure people etc.

 

BTW, I know it's tricky to make up a test like this but showing you a face quickly isn't really the point as a super recogniser. It's about long term recalling of faces, not quick remembering.... Related I suppose but will be interesting to see what difference there is in the long test.

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10/14, Think I could probably do better if I was rested. Also I was at first focusing on the picture to be from the same angle. So when they weren't I got a bit thrown. When I was younger though I had an uncany type of facial memory. I would remember people I hadn't seen in over 10 years from when I went to kinder garden with them and then recodnize them in the streets or at parties. They had no clue who I was but I could tell them details about from where I knew them and how. That memory was really sharp until I was 28, somewhere around there. Then it started to be not as good and a bit more selective. As for names, I've had real big troubles remembering names. But once my facial memory started to get worse I actually started to remember names better :) I guess it's a trade off, evoultution working in real time?

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Thank you for your participation.

You scored 13 out of 14.
I fucked up on the guy with sunglasses because my brain instinctively jumped to why is a guy in a photo lineout got glasses and by the time i re-focused to find a feature to pick out the time was up.
IMO this isn't anything to do with anything. I just picked a distinguishing feature from them and spotted it when it came up (sideburns, big ears, big lips etc). Nothing particularly spectacular about it, I am good at memorizing faces and I am also good with names. I have a horrible short term memory but my long term memory is fantastic. I doubt it has anything to do with a photographic memory in a test as simple as this. Peoples brains react in different ways and people memorize things in different ways and a test as simple as the one above it is just quite simply decide on your technique and follow it through.
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You say it's nothing to do with anything, then you say you're good at recognising faces and you did well :P

 

Not me who negged you btw - just pointing out that the test it to see how good you are at recognising faces (through whatever method you use), not to see if you're a super hero :)

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You say it's nothing to do with anything, then you say you're good at recognising faces and you did well :P

 

Not me who negged you btw - just pointing out that the test it to see how good you are at recognising faces (through whatever method you use), not to see if you're a super hero :)

 

I am good generally at recognising faces but that is over a longer elapsed period of time (say I meet someone at a party 6-7 years ago, chances are if I seen them now I could tell you who they are); that had nothing to do with the way I done the test. I just chose a simple technique that can be taught to a child when doing a spot the difference challenge and for the most part it worked. I wasn't memorizing faces, I could do the exact same technique for a painting, picture of a busy street etc. I mean I know the distinguishing feature is a police technique, but it is also something you can teach a kid as I said to do a spot the difference quiz.

 

The test as a whole just reeks of some click bait for some psychology experiment who were looking for volunteers. I mean you did Psych, you must remember how much of a pain in the arse it was to get people to take part in your experiments. If I was to say personally what I would use the test for is for a sociological experiment. "How much time will people waste in order to believe they are super at something". I mean you add super in front of any title and everyone wants to see if they make the cut. The reason I believe this? Well this quote sorta set the alarm bells ringing in my head. It is the same with everything research wise. It also said during the article that it was police officers with an ability to spot faces. It appears it is just a job title given to a team who have amazing focus and watch CCTV footage all day.

 

"If you do really well there's the option of going to the University of Greenwich for further testing, this is to help academic research, you won't be recruited by the police."

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