h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Dmitri! Congrats on this entry and thanks for writing it. I found it very interesting. I went to that test and tried them, and discovered a thing or two about myself in the process! I got a 90% correct score on the 'famous faces' one. The only faces I missed were Condoleezza Rice (whose face I am not acquainted with at all) but then also Jerry Seinfeld, Robert De Niro and Tony Blair! Well Tony Blair is also someone I don't see a lot of. But Jerry Seinfeld I should have known! And Robert De Niro especially. But the site used rather low-detail photos with the hair removed. So I learnt first of all that I actually use hair as a significant factor of someone's appearance. Next, I also learnt that I use *details* a lot. Because the faces were low in details I sometimes had difficulty making them out. I had to lean back from the computer and imagine I was watching them from far off. I associate certain details with Seinfeld as well as with De Niro. Jerry Seinfeld ... when I think of his face, there's a way his eyebrows arch, a way his lips curve while he's speaking, and a particularity about the shade of his eyes, and also something about his 'eye action' while speaking or reacting that would take long to explain here. And there's the shape of his nose and what it looks like from different angles. De Niro as well ... he has a rather rough face these days, and there's a thing about creases around his eyes, and again the shape of his nose ... and as with Seinfeld, there's the thing that because I usually see him in pictures that move, I make a point of the details of his face as they appear when *in motion*. De Niro especially has changed his appearance a lot over time and in different movies; the ones I have seen are mostly the more recent ones, and the photo they showed seems to have been from one where he was younger.

So ... I learnt a bit about what cues *I* use for recognising 'famous faces'.

Did you take that test? How did you do? I remember that you got all the faces right on *my* famous face test!

It also was interesting to me that they used lots more faces from men than from women on that test.

Hey, Willem. That's what that test needed - an artist to analyse the procedure.

You know, I took that test so long ago, I don't remember how I did. Wait......

Aha. 52%. And that's an easy test. The ones I could recognise, I did so because the photo included characteristic expressions - such as Reagan's smirk.

I think you're absolutely right. By taking that test, you can learn something about how you personally read and remember faces. That's kind of important, even for people without facial agnosia, especially in multicultural societies.

For instance, if hair colour is something we notice (and it is), think about it - that's not a bad marker in, say, many parts of Western Europe, but would be kind of silly in a place like China.

And it will totally mess you up if all the men decide shaving the head is a cool fashion. I had a Latin class once that contained half the college baseball team. Who wore backward caps in class, then wondered why I couldn't tell them apart. They were all tall...

Dmitri, you know it *will* throw me somewhat when/if I meet someone who has radically changed his/her (mostly her in this society!) hair style and/or colour. At our high school reunion it took me a time to recognise a girl I had liked *a lot* - and so was *very* familiar with her face - because she had changed from a short brunette style to long blonde hair.

And guys who shave their heads will mess me up a bit too. But then I'll be looking for those details.

Over here I think most people do use somewhat different cues for facial recognition than would be the case in Europe or America.

That is really interesting. I recognise a lot of what you describe. I didn't know there was a name for it. I was once out with a boyfriend and left him sitting at the bar whilst I went to the loo. On returning I walked up to a complete stranger and kissed him assuming him to be my boyfriend. Most awkward.

There are two mothers at my sons school (large women) who i had assumed to be the same person for quite some time. It was only when one said 'I was watching Ben sledging and i thought who the hell is Ben that i realised my mistake. I often smile at everyone just to be on the safe side!

When watching films I've been known to ask 'who is he then' when an actor returns without his hat. It does mean I get a lot of benefit from films as I don't know that the actor was a different person in a different film.

Aha. We are outting h2g2 here. When I put this into PR, we found out that all three of the current Editorial Team had prosopagnosia.

There seem to be more of us...are we self-selecting for online communication somehow?

If you've kissed a perfect stranger, you definitely qualify.

I used to smile at everyone, too. This can get you into trouble...