From Super Recognisers to the Face Blind: Why are some people better at recognising faces?

— —

Karen Lander (Senior Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester)

From Super Recognisers to the Face Blind

Why are some people better at recognising faces?

Karen Lander (Senior Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester)

$234.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
09 July 2025

Experimental psychology; Physiological & neuro-psychology, biopsychology; Cognition & cognitive psychology

There is a long history of face recognition research in psychology.

Typically, performance is averaged across individuals to investigate the effect of factors like age or sex on face recognition performance.

However, over the last 15 years or so, research has started to consider how and why some people are better at recognising faces than others. Some individuals possess an exceptional ability to recognise faces, known as 'super-recognisers', while others struggle significantly to recognise the people around them, a condition known as prosopagnosia or 'face blindness'. These differences may be attributed to a combination of genetic, neurological, socioemotional and environmental factors.

Understanding these individual differences is crucial in fields such as psychology, neuroscience and security, as it helps tailor possible approaches to enhance face recognition skills and, in the future, develop supportive technologies for those who struggle with it.

From Super Recognisers to the Face Blind provides readers with a wide-ranging, detailed, and critical overview of individual differences in face recognition ability.

It provides insights into why some people are better at recognising faces than others and the possible consequences of these differences, carefully detailing the scientific knowledge on this emerging topic.

Volume editor: Karen Lander (Senior Lecturer Senior Lecturer University of Manchester)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780198874348
ISBN 10: 0198874340
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 09 July 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Karen Lander is an Experimental Psychologist at the University of Manchester, UK. She has been researching face recognition for over 25 years with a particular focus on individual differences in the last decade. She is especially interested in understanding the theoretical mechanisms behind these differences and their practical consequences in the real-world.