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Health Check: 03/05/2010

03/05/2010

BBC World Service - Health Check, 03/05/2010

The psychology of face recognition. Why can’t some people recognise their own children?

The psychology of face recognition. What’s wrong in the brains of people who can’t recognise friends and family. And why some people literally can’t forget a face.

The psychology of face recognition – why do some people have a condition which means they can’t recognise the faces of their own children, while others – the super-recognisers remember the faces of complete strangers decades later?   Claudia Hammond investigates the psychology of face recognition. She also finds out whether our ability to recognise faces stands up in court. 

What if you literally could never forget a face?  So the face of every person you’ve ever encountered was somehow etched in your memory.  The so called ‘Super recognisers’ is a group of people whose skills have just been discovered by neuroscientists. She finds out why their abilities are providing scientists with some tantalising evidence about how our brains recognise faces. She also hears from the people at the other extreme – those who can’t  recognise their own children, loved ones and sometimes even their own reflection.  This programme uncovers how we recognise one of the most important patterns in our visual world.

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