science

Super recogniser

Super recogniser is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Super recogniser rather than just read about it. In short: Super recogniser is a term coined in 2009 by Harvard and University College London researchers for people with significantly better-than-average face recognition ability. Super recognisers are able to memorise and recall thousands of faces, often having seen them only once.

Key takeaways

Super recogniser belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Super recogniser to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Super recogniser from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Super recogniser is a term coined in 2009 by Harvard and University College London researchers for people with significantly better-than-average face recognition ability. Super recognisers are able to memorise and recall thousands of faces, often having seen them only once. Some super recognisers do not have increased ability to remember facial information. Rather, they are exceptional at comparing two juxtaposed images of faces, and can discriminate significant visual information about them, such as if they are the same person or not.

Causes The genes contributing to the ability are mostly unknown, although facial recognition skills are highly heritable. For a long time, it was believed that the general population had similar levels of facial recognition, and that anyone could be taught to be a super recogniser. However, this has long been proved false, as genetics play the dominant role in the highly variable degrees of facial perception the population has.

Skill It is estimated that 1 to 2% of the population are super recognisers who can remember 80% of faces they have seen compared to 20% in the general population, but these figures are disputed, as other sources may put the frequency closer to 90%. It is the extreme opposite of prosopagnosia. Super recognisers can match faces better than computer recognition systems in some circumstances. The science behind this is poorly understood but may be related to the fusiform face area part of the brain.

Practical applications The skill is recognised and employed among the British intelligence community. In May 2015, the London Metropolitan Police officially formed a team made up of people with this heightened capability for recognising people and put them to work identifying individuals whose faces are captured on CCTV. As of 2013, Scotland Yard has a squad of over 200 super recognisers. In August 2018, it was reported that the Metropolitan Police had used two super recognisers to identify the suspects of the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal, after trawling through up to 5,000 hours of CCTV footage from Salisbury and numerous airports across the country. Other police forces using super recognisers include Thames Valley Police, City of London Police, Jersey Police, and West Midlands Police. German police forces have made increasing use of super recognisers for suspect identification, such as in the wake of the 2020 Stuttgart riot.

Glasgow Face Matching Test Super recognisers performed well in the Glasgow Face Matching Test in comparison with a control group.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Super recogniser

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Super recogniser claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Super recogniser before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Super recogniser ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Super recogniser

In research: Super recogniser appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Super recogniser in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Super recogniser is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Face perception, Giftedness, Surveillance, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Super recogniser outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Super recogniser in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Super recogniser means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Super recogniser out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Super recogniser in simple terms?

Why does Super recogniser matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Super recogniser?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Super recogniser.