"Super recogniser" is a term coined in 2009 by Harvard and University College London researchers for people with significantly better-than-average face recognition ability.
[3][6][7] The science behind this is poorly understood but may be related to the fusiform face area part of the brain.
[9] In August 2018, it was reported that the Metropolitan Police had used two super recognisers to identify the suspects of the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal, after trawling through up to 5,000 hours of CCTV footage from Salisbury and numerous airports across the country.
[12] German police forces have made increasing use of super recognisers for suspect identification, such as in the wake of the 2020 Stuttgart riot.
[13] Super recognisers performed well in the Glasgow Face Matching Test in comparison with a control group.