Sometimes we say about a person that he has a "memorable appearance." Are there really categories of people whose faces are difficult for most of us to remember?
People with no special signs
It is believed that these are the people who are willingly hired by the special services. The fact is that, as a rule, we tend to remember some bright details - thick lush hair, a large mole, non-standard facial features … In extreme cases, we remember catchy clothes or jewelry, tattoos. If in a person's appearance nothing stands out, and he is usually dressed, and he does not have any eye-catching trinkets or tattoos, then at the next meeting we may not recognize him, and if we are asked to describe him, this is unlikely to succeed.
People with typical appearance
Sometimes, when asked how this or that person looked, we answer: “Well, he has such a typical appearance …” For our middle lane it can be medium height, light brown hair, gray eyes, a straight nose … There are a lot of such people around, and remembering this "type" is really difficult.
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People of a different race
We often hear that the Chinese or Japanese are all the same for Europeans. In any case, we Russians need an effort to remember a representative of an African or Asian people in person. If we have seen him only once or several times, then we can easily confuse a particular individual with his other brothers, which can lead to various misunderstandings.
People who tend to change their appearance
If a person has put on dark glasses and, say, a red wig, and even dressed in something bright, then we will most likely remember exactly glasses, a wig and bright clothes. And if the next time we see a new acquaintance already without this entourage, then we will hardly understand that we are facing the same individual. This trick is often used in detective stories.
People with the right facial features
There is a widespread theory that a beautiful face is hard to forget. But recently, researchers from the University of Jena (Germany) refuted it. Rather, they managed to prove that it is not entirely true.
During the study, the results of which were published in the scientific journal Neuropsychologia, scientists showed a group of volunteers pictures of different people. At the same time, half of the faces could be considered beautiful, and the second - not very, but the number of features of appearance for all was approximately equal.
During the demonstration, the electrical activity of the subjects' brains was recorded. After some time, they were shown the photographs again and asked if they had seen certain people before.
As it turned out, the volunteers were more likely to remember the ugly faces. They were more likely to recognize beautiful faces only in cases where the “handsome men” had unusual facial features, like Angelina Jolie. If they were shown the faces of beautiful people, pictures of which they had not seen before, then the subjects often said that they were familiar to them.
Experts believe that when we see a beautiful face with the right features, it looks familiar to us. Therefore, we often make mistakes in recognition. If the face is ugly, then it is easier to remember, since usually some remarkable features such as a long nose or a large mouth make the appearance ugly.
"The test showed that subjects tend to remember unattractive faces if there are no remarkable features in the beautiful ones," study authors Holger Wiese, Caroline Altmann and Stefan Schweinberger say.
Daria Lyubimskaya