Research Shows Humans Can Recognize Over 5,000 People

Ever had that awkward moment where think you know someone but you're not too sure if you should approach them and say hello?

New research from psychologists from the University of New York shows that humans can recognize over 5,000 people over the span of their lives. Through a series of tests on recall and recognition done over the years on people, the study shows that people know anywhere from 1,000 up to 10,000 faces of friends, co-workers, celebrities with the average being around 5,000.

One of the studies that were done on volunteers for the project asks people to recall as many people as they could from their private lives then moved on to famous people ranging from sports figures to movie stars. Even if the volunteer could not remember the name of the person, just basically if they remembered seeing them somewhere in multiple pictures.

I am pretty good with faces but I always have had a hard time remembering peoples names. Bon Jovi says it the best. I've seen a million faces and rocked them all.

Source: TheGuardian.com