Perfect facial recall, common?

October 30, 2007 11:05 AM

Whenever I think of a person out of the past (I'm 67, and have an excellent recall of schoolmates and even casual acquaintances from the distant past) a mental thumbnail photograph of that person always pops into my thoughts. Accurate in every way. I find almost no names in memory without full face photographs, probably thousands of them. My question, is this a rare ability or is it common?
posted by fkeese to Science & Nature (9 answers total)

Are you really sure it is accurate in every way? Or your brain is just convinced it is accurate, and then if proven otherwise it rewrites history? Just playing devil's advocate.

But otherwise, I would have to say its a rare ability.
posted by ian1977 at 11:09 AM on October 30, 2007

Are you really sure it is accurate in every way? Or your brain is just convinced it is accurate, and then if proven otherwise it rewrites history?

This is what I wonder. Do you have full facial recall of every person you've ever met, or just of the people you remember? Because if you had forgotten people, you wouldn't remember that you had forgotten them...
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:12 AM on October 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

According to Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, you are probably a visual learner.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:32 AM on October 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

Also, does this only happen with faces of people you know? Or can you recall pages of text word for word, images of non-human subjects, etc? It could be a variation on photographic/eidetic memory, although this phenomenon is controversial.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 11:52 AM on October 30, 2007

I have an excellent memory for names and faces as well, but I am not a particularly visual learner. I've chalked it up to being fairly social--not so much outgoing, but more that I am interested in people. I am guessing that this is rare, as I seem remember about 10 times the number of people who remember me. or maybe I'm just forgettable. :)
posted by Ollie at 11:52 AM on October 30, 2007

I have a photographic memory. But I find that nothing is truly accurate in every way. It may be accurate of the snapshot my mind took, however few things in life remain the same for eternity as they are for one second frozen in time even if you literally took a photograph. So my snapshots can't possibly be truly accurate in every way because there are details that inevitably change.

It's not uncommon that I can find my way around places that I haven't been in 20 years just by visual clues I've held onto from the past. Whether I recognize it or not, things may actually look much different than when I was last there though. Buildings may have totally changed, but I'll recognize a staircase or a sign and that's all I need. The same thing probably happens for you... there are certain visual clues that you recall, and with recognition of those, the differences you see will fade away because they aren't important. With me, I remember eyes. There have been times where I've seen an old acquaintance I'd forgotten about and when I look in their eyes I'll instantly pinpoint them. There can be an instant recognition of the most important puzzle pieces, even though the entire image might not be there.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:07 PM on October 30, 2007

It's definitely not universal as I don't have perfect facial recall for even my boyfriend of three and a half years, my parents, or my sisters. If I try to picture them, it comes out a blur. I actually remember acquaintances' faces better sometimes because I may have one photograph of them that freezes them in my memory. Anyone I'm even moderately close to, I can't remember what they look like even when I'm with them and their back is turned.

I wish I could do what you describe.
posted by crinklebat at 12:12 AM on October 31, 2007

I, too, envy your skill! Whenever I start a new job, for instance, I spend a couple weeks trying to sort out Brunette Girl #1, #2, and #3. It's a while before I can remember who is who. For me, I recall very broad things (medium length brunette hair, average build, well dressed) but the facial details get lost in a blur.

Imagine my horror when I worked for two brothers once and I couldn't tell them apart for ages. Now, after getting to know them, I can't see what my problem was, as they aren't twins and really don't look much alike. But it takes me a while to remember the details, for some reason....
posted by iguanapolitico at 7:18 AM on October 31, 2007

Response by poster: My thanks to everyone for their thoughts about this, I, too, can remember places I've been, roads traveled years ago, but only when I return to those places. I am as bad as anyone about remembering the people at last night's party, pretty good at recalling faces of coworkers 30 or 40 years back, and really good at recalling almost everyone, young and old alike, even twins, from 50-60 years ago. Of course many of these people are now long gone and I see them as they were then. If I could sketch at all I could experiment a bit with yearbook comparisons vs. my sketched picture, but for now I will use this odd talent, as I have done in the past, as a pleasant way to get to sleep, no counting sheep for me!
posted by fkeese at 10:49 AM on October 31, 2007