Why Our Brains Recognize Faces So Easily... or Fail at It

We are constantly recognizing faces countless times a day, but how do our brains distinguish those faces so easily?

Hosted by: Hank Green
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Sources:
FFA:

Thatcher Illusion:

Prosopagnosia:

Pareidolia:

Image Sources:

Audio Source:

[cdmurray]

I have a really hard time with faces; to the point where I awkwardly stare at people like, "is that who I think it is, or do they just look similar?" Which is problematic either way; either they are who I think and they wonder why I didn't say hi, or they aren't and think I'm a creep just staring at them.

[salmffron]

0:09 Jokes on you, Beyonce IS my Mom and my best friend

[martijndekok]

Coincidentally I just re-watched a documentary "NatGeo "My Brilliant Brain" featuring Susan Polgar". She's a chess Grand Master and according to brain scans she has 'hijacked' the Fusiform Face Area to recognize chess patterns. This was the effect of training from a early age.

[ProfessorPolitics]

Fun fact! Some political scientists took subjects photographs and meshed them with politicians' pictures to the point that the subjects reported not being able to recognize who they were looking at. The researchers then pitted these hypothetical candidates against other, not-meshed faces and found that the familiar faces wiped the floor with the unfamiliar ones. So facial familiarity can play a pretty big role in how we navigate the world.

[wlritchi]

I've had prosopagnosia from birth, but didn't realize it until I learned about it at around age 16. I pick up on enough other features (hair, voice, body type, mannerisms) that I can usually recognize people day-to-day, especially if it's in a context where I would expect to see them (e.g. my coworkers in the office). Oddly, I still get pareidolia, and I still see the Thatcher effect - my brain knows things are faces, it just doesn't know which ones.

[UrvineSpiegel]

I'm really good at remembering faces, yet terrible at remembering names. They're like "Hi, I'm Hank, nice to meet you.". and I'm like " Hi Hank, I'm Irvine, Nice to meet you too.".
Brain *Face0039880281.jpg Saved to memory.*

Then I see them the next day and they're like " Hey Irvine!" and I'm like " Face0039880281.jpg..."

[oscarthegrouch]

I have face blindess to the degree that I have trouble recognizing my family if we are in a public place with a lot of people (a Walmart, for instance). I can stare right at their face and have no idea who they are if they are in a crowd. Luckily, they all have defining features (my dad kinda waddles when he walks, my mom is a pretty unmistakable round dollop of sunshine, my brother has really long hair, etc.) so I can recognize them within a few seconds without even seeing their faces. I can't recall faces either (or race, for some reason). In my mind, there is just a blur where a person's face should be (because of this, the people in my dreams don't have faces). I am not sure where my face blindess comes from. My dad is great with faces, my mom isn't, but she had brain damage before, so that is probably why. I think it is because I am autistic. Autism affects basically everything about an individual; why would the ability to recognize faces be any different?

[PaulPaulPaulson]

3:05 I predict that soon there will be a new "hank" user in this comment section with this picture as his avatar. I'm just not sure yet what his name will be...

[TheBackyardChemist]

In other words, human brains have hardware acceleration for face recognition.

[jancal]

Chuck Close, a painter world-famous for his gigantic, photo-realist portraits of faces, is face blind. There’s a documentary about it.

[iamtwoawesomes]

I have a pretty hard time with faces but I’m doing pretty well recognizing people in my thesis class (in art school) this semester. I still only remember like two names but since we’re in depth talking about everyone’s art (most pieces of which are following a narrative are) twice a week I have distinct memories to associate with them, which helps a lot, though the quiet ones are still hard to remember cause I look at their art more than their faces haha.
On a related note a teacher of mine from the previous semester said hi and I didn’t recognize them at first bc they got a haircut, but some seconds after they said my name I recognized that I knew that person, but not from where. It took some thinking on it after they left before I placed that I’d taken their class.

[chegeny]

I can remember faces from people I met years ago if only momentarily. It's a weird super power. I can recognize extras in movies from other movies.

[tina_tiresome]

I am face blind! So excited to hear Hank talk about it

[shivamjaiswal]

Next : *Why are we bad at remembering names?*

[GuitarLessonsBobbyCrispy]

The face recognizing part of the brain doesn't know the difference between a person in real life and a person in a photo or movie. So you when you see the face of a celebrity ( ie Paul McCartney ) over and over again, then see them in real life, you're brain is telling you that you know that person, and it's ok to go right up to them and talk to that person and ask for an autograph. Unfortunately for the celebrity like Paul, he doesn't know you, so it's like a complete stranger coming up to them and stepping right into their comfort zone. That's why famous people look irritated when a fan goes up to them an asks for an autograph.

[CynBH]

I can know someone fairly well and be able to identify them among other people in a certain setting, but then totally not know who they are in a different setting. I'll know their face is familiar, but be totally unable to place who they are and why I know them. For example, I had a dog with chronic health issues so I was at the vet with him frequently. I knew everyone in that office by name. But one day I ran into the vet and her family at a store. Her husband was the office manager at the clinic, so I knew him too. I knew that I knew them, but I couldn't remember their names or where I knew them from. I faked it well (I think). It finally hit me a few hours later. This has happened many times. I've perfected sincerely saying, "Hi! How are you! Nice to see you!" All while mentally scrambling for clues as to that person's context in my life. 😕

[RangerRuby]

Yay! A new video and a live stream and the main channel! I love SciShow and SciShow Psych! Thanks for this video!

[samman]

Tbh this chanell is so underrated awesome vedio as always❤❤❤

[mikeo.]

I've noticed that most people have two faces, for me.
One that's instantly recognizable, and a completely different face which can only be seen if you really, really look at them, observing them even more than if you're going to draw their portrait. It helps if you really know the person, in order to see this 'other, truer' face. Maybe that's just me, though.

[BeorEviols]

You should mention super recognisers. People with an exceptional ability to recognise faces