A British study conducted on 120 people shows that women are 5% more successful at recognizing faces than men.
Participants were asked to memorize individual faces presented to them for 20 seconds. Each was then asked to correctly identify the faces which were now placed among a group of dozens of people. Researchers also removed the ears, hair and obvious flaws.
Women fared better. As for men, researchers noted that homosexual and left-handed men did better than the rest. Researchers explain this result by saying that women and homosexuals are more interested in facial expression and therefore pay more attention.
The researchers add that women have better genetic programming to recognize faces because they must recognize the needs of their children.
In addition, there is a medical condition called prosopagnosia. People who suffer from this are unable to recognize faces, even those within their own family and those to whom they have just spoken.
It is estimated that 1.5 million Britons suffer from some form of prosopagnosia and some are unaware they are sick. They rely on other indicators like eyeglasses, clothing, voice and mannerisms.