Not superpowerz but skillz

August 1, 2009 7:58 PM

What's the name of my somewhat useless, but neat, ability to recognize people from their pictures as kids?

Not a bulletpoint for putting on resumes, it's true, but I've always had a profound ability to recognize people from their pictures as babies/kids. Is there a name for this? Does anyone else think this is their stupid human trick?
Also, I'm very good at reading emotions on faces. A brow crinkle here, a smile there. I think I know exactly what they're thinking. What's this called (besides being presumptuous)?

posted by bunny hugger to human relations (5 comments total)

Also, I'm very good at reading emotions on faces. A brow crinkle here, a smile there. I think I know exactly what they're thinking. What's this called (besides being presumptuous)?

Psychologist Paul Ekman calls this "reading micro-expressions." You might want to look into his work.
posted by mellifluous at 8:31 PM on August 1

You may be a super-recognizer.
posted by i love cheese at 8:52 PM on August 1

Here's a test to see if you are good at reading micro-expressions. I got them all right. I feel pretty special.
posted by Evangeline at 9:00 PM on August 1 [1 favorite]

This is decidedly NOT my super human trick, as I found out at a recent baby picture matching contest at work. I was so unusually terrible at it that I have been wondering what other abilities it's tied to. In my case, I want to know what I lack and what that might lead to in day-to-day life, but in yours, whatever it's tied to might be a more useful ability than this ability itself.

When I looked into it a little, I found this site on faceblindness, where you can test your memory for faces. (You have to put in an email address, but I did, and I don't think they spam or anything.) As a point of reference, I did not-great/not-terrible. I'd expected to do badly, because I have a hard time telling men apart in certain movies where they dress similarly, have similar haircuts, and are similar ages. I think I'm also not-great/not-terrible at reading facial expressions.

In any case, I hope someone comes along who knows what abilities tend to correlate with this one!
posted by daisyace at 4:58 AM on August 2

Being a super-recognizer myself, I like to refer to is as my stalker-skilz.
posted by Foam Pants at 11:10 AM on August 2