Why can't I recognise faces?

Why can't I recognise faces?

Author: BBC World Service May 1, 2026 Duration: 26:28

CrowdScience listener Jeroen finds it hard to remember people's faces - and he wants to know why. He wonders if it's to do with getting older and if there’s any way of improving.

Presenter Caroline Steel has the same problem and is keen to find an answer too.

She meets Professor Zaira Cattaneo, a neuroscientist based in Italy who researches face perception. Zaira has discovered which parts of the brain are engaged in facial recognition. She explains how we recognise faces and why ageing could be a factor in Jeroen’s difficulty.

Caroline travels to Bournemouth in the UK to meet researcher Professor Sarah Bate, who assesses Caroline's ability to recognise faces and explains the causes of face blindness.

And she compares notes with fellow CrowdScience presenter Marnie Chesterton, who also has difficulty remembering faces. Around two per cent of the population have the condition. Could there be a reason why more than a third of CrowdScience presenters experience face blindness?

If you’ve got a science question you’d like us to answer, email crowdscience@bbc.co.uk.

Presenter Caroline Steel

Producer Jo Glanville

Editor Ben Motley

(Photo:Packaging cardboard on the head with different emotions - stock photo Credit: Flying broccoli via Getty Images)


Curiosity drives discovery, and CrowdScience from the BBC World Service is built entirely on that principle. Each episode begins not with a scripted lesson, but with a question sent in by a listener from anywhere in the world. These aren't simple queries with easy answers; they are the wonderfully complex, often quirky puzzles about everyday phenomena and cosmic mysteries that make us all stop and wonder. What does silence sound like? Could we ever photosynthesize like plants? How does a crowd's mood physically spread? The team then embarks on a genuine investigative journey, tracking down the specialists at the very edge of our understanding-neuroscientists, ecologists, physicists, and engineers-to piece together credible, compelling answers. Listening to this podcast feels like having a direct line to the labs and field sites where knowledge is being created. The conversations are deep yet accessible, transforming abstract concepts into relatable stories. It’s a collective exploration where listener curiosity sets the agenda, making each episode a unique and democratic look at the machinery of our world and beyond. You become part of a global community pondering life, Earth, and the universe, one thoughtful question at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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