# jobs for people with exceptional recall? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226 "2018-04-11T16:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/21 "2018-04-11T21:08:10Z")
Scotland Yard has 200 ‘super recognizers’ on staff. They watch hours of video in the hopes of finding someone wanted by the police. That seems like it would get pretty dull, pretty quick. > **[Super recogniser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_recogniser)** > > "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. Super recognisers are able to memorise and recall thousands of faces, often having seen them only once. > It is the extreme opposite of prosopagnosia. It is estimated that 1 to 2% of the population are super recognisers who can remember 80% of faces they have seen compared to 20% of the general population, but these figures ar... ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/22 "2018-04-11T21:57:48Z")
numbers runner in 1930s harlem. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/23 "2018-04-11T22:38:49Z")
The third act of this [This American Life episode](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/585/in-defense-of-ignorance) deals with people who have exceptional recall, near perfect memories. People who can tell you exactly what they did and said and saw on a specific random date four years ago, for example. One of them works as a continuity coordinator for films, the person who makes sure that all the props and background characters are placed exactly the same in every take of the same scene, including when they have to go back weeks or months later for re-shoots. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/24 "2018-04-12T12:51:34Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > The recent raiding of Trump’s attorney’s office got me thinking: do law firms hire people with exceptional ability to recall things from their memory with no notes? If I am sufficiently engaged in something I can recall it in detail, even years later. So they could have had me sit in on meetings and had no document trail. I do need to be engaged in what is going on, but if they are paying me a lot I could find ways to stay engaged in even the most boring meetings. Or maybe some other industries pay people well to recall things with no notes? Why do you assume lawyers don’t want a document trail? It’s just the opposite: I want to document everything. If a factual issue is contested in court, contemporary documents beat a years-old witness’s recollection every time. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/25 "2018-04-12T15:22:45Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why do you assume lawyers don’t want a document trail? It’s just the opposite: I want to document everything. If a factual issue is contested in court, contemporary documents beat a years-old witness’s recollection every time. I was thinking you wouldn’t want to write down anything that could be used against your client. If you are raided (like Trump’s attorney was), then they know more stuff against him. Sure write down definitely exonerating stuff (but it could be misconstrued, so maybe not). Maybe write down fake exonerating stuff while you are at it. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/26 "2018-04-12T16:08:52Z")
Up until the 90s, we relied quite a bit on “Code experts” who had very detailed knowledge of building, electrical, fire alarm, plumbing, etc. codes. I was always amazed at how they could cite some obscure provision for an alternate method of compliance. In the late 80s and 90s, it became a lot simpler to do keyword searches of the documents. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/27 "2018-04-12T16:43:49Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > I was thinking you wouldn’t want to write down anything that could be used against your client. If you are raided (like Trump’s attorney was), then they know more stuff against him. Sure write down definitely exonerating stuff (but it could be misconstrued, so maybe not). My job is to defend the client’s interests and not mislead the court. I need the full picture, warts and all, to fulfill those twin duties. It is extraordinarily rare for law enforcement to get search warrants for lawyers’ offices, and also extremely rare that a communication with a client about their legal matters will not be privileged. If the police have convinced the courts to conduct that kind of search, you’re already in deep trouble. A pattern of hanky-panky to hide evidence will get you in more trouble, not less. > [@](#): > > Maybe write down fake exonerating stuff while you are at it. No. Just no. That is contrary to our legal ethics, and could well be obstruction of justice. See, for example, the doubts swirling around the press release issued by the White House about the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians, and whether the false statements in it amounted to obstruction of justice. No way. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/28 "2018-04-12T16:57:24Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > My job is to defend the client’s interests and not mislead the court. I need the full picture, warts and all, to fulfill those twin duties. > > It is extraordinarily rare for law enforcement to get search warrants for lawyers’ offices, and also extremely rare that a communication with a client about their legal matters will not be privileged. > > If the police have convinced the courts to conduct that kind of search, you’re already in deep trouble. A pattern of hanky-panky to hide evidence will get you in more trouble, not less. > > No. Just no. > > That is contrary to our legal ethics, and could well be obstruction of justice. > > See, for example, the doubts swirling around the press release issued by the White House about the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians, and whether the false statements in it amounted to obstruction of justice. > > No way. These are interesting side questions. Can a defense attorney purposely not write down something which might be used against their client? Can a defense attorney write down all sorts of fake stuff on the off chance their office will be raided (with no attempts to get anyone to believe it)? Certainly a defense attorney could also be a novelist. Would he be required to segragate his work? Would he be required to explain which is which? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/29 "2018-04-12T17:15:42Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Bards. Bards that retell events accurately? Totally useless. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/30 "2018-04-12T17:17:00Z")
I would think that any profession requiring complex, detailed work would benefit from having excellent recall. Simply being able to recall stuff from memory, however, is not in and of itself a marketable skill. > [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > These are interesting side questions. Can a defense attorney purposely not write down something which might be used against their client? Can a defense attorney write down all sorts of fake stuff on the off chance their office will be raided (with no attempts to get anyone to believe it)? Certainly a defense attorney could also be a novelist. Would he be required to segragate his work? Would he be required to explain which is which? A defense attorney’s notes are privileged and not subject to discovery. An attorney’s offices are only raided when the attorney him/herself is suspected of committing a crime. Simply having a scumbag as a client is not justification for raiding a lawyer’s office. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/31 "2018-04-12T17:45:10Z")
You could be that one guy at Home Depot who knows where things are. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/32 "2018-04-12T18:01:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Bards that retell events accurately? > Totally useless. Oh dunnow, depends on whether they can tell them well. _Si non è vero, è ben trovato_ works, but so does the opposite: for storytelling, the telling matters more than the story. Except for Dogma directors, nobody is going to lovingly describe that the main character takes a dump, yet a good enough storyteller could make that shit sound like the best-dropped log ever. In Spain being the equivalent of the National Enquirer used to be a specialty of blind beggars. They’d learn all kinds of stories in couplets, and if possible carry pictures illustrating them, with each couplet written under each picture. The spread of the pictures accompanied a rise in literacy, both linked to the printing press; the beggars needed to be able to recall the poem correctly as well as be able to recite it interestingly. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226/33 "2018-04-12T18:08:56Z")
An actor I suppose. Marylou Henner has eidetic memory, and while she isn’t an oscar-caliber actress, I imagine it helped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-for-people-with-exceptional-recall/812226.md?page=1)