QUIZ: Are you a super-recognizer?The best super-recognizers can remember almost every face they’ve ever seen.

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The best super-recognizers can remember almost every face they’ve ever seen

CBC Docs · Posted: Jan 14, 2022 11:27 AM ET | Last Updated: January 20

Are you a "super-recognizer?" | In Your Face

14 days agoDuration 0:38Try this quick quiz to test your facial recognition skills!0:38comments

Every day, humans use a superpower and we don't even realize it. 

Our ability to recognize and remember faces is incredible.The average person can remember around 5,000 faces — including scores of celebrities we've never even met. The reasons why we have this skill (and why some of us don't) are explored in In Your Face, a documentary from The Nature of Things.  

There are some people whose facial recognition abilities go even further. People like Kelly Desborough can remember the face of everyone she's ever met, no matter how long ago she met them, or how well she knew them. 

In London, U.K., Desborough was recruited to a special squad of "super-recognizers" to assist the police. 

"I was given a face of a known predator that we were trying to find," says Desborough in the documentary. "And I found him, in amongst 42,000 people."

WATCH: "Super-recognizers" can pick out one person's face amongst thousands

"Super-recognizers" can pick out one person's face amongst thousands | In Your Face

14 days agoDuration 1:31Some people have an incredible ability to recognize and remember faces - they are known as "super-recognizers."This woman can't recognize her own daughter's face, but technology is helping her

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