Individual differences and memory for faces,pictures, and words

People who had performed exceptionally well or badly on facial recognition tests between 1 and 4 years previously were given three recognition tasks, one involving faces, one involving paintings, and a third using visually presented words. Those selected as good recognizers were better on the recognition of faces and paintings, but they did not differ in verbal memory. This result suggests that people who are particularly good at facial recognition have a generally good visual memory that is separate from verbal memory.