I just recently had two experiences that gave me some insight into how my facial recognition works - or doesn't work.
1. BS'ing my way through recognizing someone
I glanced in a room as I was walking by and saw someone look up at me. Reflexively, I smiled and nodded. About ten steps later, I realized who it was. Turns out that, in order to make up for the fact that it takes me some time to recognize someone, I will act like I recognize them as soon as I see a look of recognition on their face. This also brought to mind the many times I thought I saw a look of recognition on someone's face, and wound up smiling and saying a warm "hi" to someone I didn't know.
2. Misidentifying one person as someone I know better
I saw someone I thought was person A, but realized later it was person B. When I realized my mistake, I realized I know person A much better than person B. So when I saw a face that I had difficulty recognizing, I "matched" it to the more well-known face. Thinking about other cases, I never mistake a more well-known person for a less well-known one. So, if I don't know someone well enough to recognize their face immediately, I will misidentify them as someone I know better.
I've done this in the past, too. I once had a long argument with my wife because I saw a movie with Gerard Depardieu in it and I was absolutely certain that it was Jeff Daniels (this was before the answer to every little argument was on the Internet). I guess that also tells you how bad my facial recognition is.
1. BS'ing my way through recognizing someone
I glanced in a room as I was walking by and saw someone look up at me. Reflexively, I smiled and nodded. About ten steps later, I realized who it was. Turns out that, in order to make up for the fact that it takes me some time to recognize someone, I will act like I recognize them as soon as I see a look of recognition on their face. This also brought to mind the many times I thought I saw a look of recognition on someone's face, and wound up smiling and saying a warm "hi" to someone I didn't know.
2. Misidentifying one person as someone I know better
I saw someone I thought was person A, but realized later it was person B. When I realized my mistake, I realized I know person A much better than person B. So when I saw a face that I had difficulty recognizing, I "matched" it to the more well-known face. Thinking about other cases, I never mistake a more well-known person for a less well-known one. So, if I don't know someone well enough to recognize their face immediately, I will misidentify them as someone I know better.
I've done this in the past, too. I once had a long argument with my wife because I saw a movie with Gerard Depardieu in it and I was absolutely certain that it was Jeff Daniels (this was before the answer to every little argument was on the Internet). I guess that also tells you how bad my facial recognition is.
