Recognizing faces runs in the family
Two independent studies reveal evidence that recognizing faces is largely hereditary:
We know that the ability to recognize faces varies among individuals. Some people are born with prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces, and others acquire the condition as a result of brain damage. At the other end of the scale are people who never forget a face — the so-called “super-recognizers”.
But:
[M]ost of the variation in face recognition abilities can be accounted for by genetic factors, and that the perceptual mechnisms [sic] underlying the processing of faces — as opposed to the processing of other objects — is largely hereditary. This is of course supported by the case studies showing that impairments in face recognition can run in families.
The burden of “I’m not good with faces” no longer solely rests with you. It may go back generations.
