Author Talk: Sharrona Pearl |Do I Know You? From Face Blindness to Super Recognition

Philadelphia City Institute

In Do I Know You? Sharrona Pearl explores the fascinating category of face recognition and the "the face recognition spectrum," which ranges from face blindness at one end to super recognition at the other. Super recognizers can recall faces from only the briefest exposure, while face blind people lack the capacity to recognize faces at all, including those of their closest loved ones. Informed by archival research, the latest neurological studies, and testimonials from people at both ends of the spectrum, Pearl tells a nuanced story of how we relate to each other through our faces.

Sharrona Pearl is Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and History at Drexel University.  A historian and theorist of the face, Do I Know You? From Face Blindness to Superrecognition is Pearl's third book, following Face/On: Face Transplants and the Ethics of the Other and About Faces: Physiognomy in Nineteenth-Century Britain.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase after the presentation. This event is free and open to the public.

This program is sponsored by Friends in the City (FitC) and Philadelphia City Institute Library.