How many persons can remember a person

The scientific staff of the University of York in the UK has been able to establish how many people can remember one person. According to scientists, this ability is influenced by individual characteristics, but on average one person is able to hold on to about five thousand persons.

Scientists have organized an experiment, inviting for participation of 25 student volunteers. The task for participants was that they needed to know the maximum number of celebrities on the photo and describe the faces of friends and relatives.

According to experts, participants “remembered how look a few hundred of their friends, and successfully recognized the face of one third politicians, stars of show business and other celebrities – on average, each remembered about five thousand persons”.

If to speak not about the average rate, and the individual abilities of the people to memorize those, then the differences can be quite significant, confirmed the researchers. For example, two people one can remember only a thousand individuals, whereas the other ten thousand. The authors believe that this distinction can influence the characteristics of brain activity, as well as the fact in what kind of environment growing up.

In the past similar experiments on the recognition of the ability to remember the faces of the scientists was carried out for animals. They demonstrated that dogs, horses, many birds, and even wasps can remember (and forget!) of a human face.

Researchers believe that the ability to recognize and remember faces could play an important role in the evolution of our ancestors. More detailed results of their work are published in the journal Royal Society Proceedings B.

Previously, as written Magicforum, scientists found that beautiful partners prefer to choose those who are smarter.