Recognition of human individuals

Recognition of acquaintances

From nearby, a human individual is mainly recognized by his or her face. Other differences in appearance are less suitable:

• usually most of the body is covered with clothing, which varies from day to day;
• body parts other than the face that are uncovered, such as usually hands, are not as easy to tell people apart;
• the arrangement of the hair also helps recognizing people, but, like clothing, a person may vary this, and it may also be covered by headgear.

People can also fairly well be recognized by voice. The combination of visual and auditive recognition is even more effective and often removes any doubts.

From longer distances, people can be recognized by their body size and shape and their gait.

Recognition for commercial, security and legal reasons, including forensics

• comparing the face with that on a passport photograph
• fingerprints
• DNA fingerprinting
• Iris scan
• Retina scan
• other biometrics
• signature

See also

• makeup
• disguise
• impersonation
• costume
• pattern recognition
• face perception
• identity
• identity document
• digital identity