‘Don’t I know you from somewhere?’ Experts explain the ‘cousin face’ phenomenon — and why we find strangers’ faces so familiar.

Ever run into a stranger and think, Don’t I know you from somewhere? Or maybe you’ve repeatedly been mistaken for someone else? On TikTok the phenomenon is known as “cousin face” — as in, “Wow, you look just like one of my cousins” and other things people with these familiar-looking faces get told.

But is “cousin face” actually rooted in science? Is there a reason some people might have more recognizable features — even from the perspective of people they have never met? Here’s what experts say.

How our brains recognize faces

Unsurprisingly, “cousin face” isn’t a formally recognized scientific term, and there aren’t any peer-reviewed, scientifically driven articles using it. That said, the concept behind it does have proven roots in facial recognition research.

A 2022 study out of Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles found that when the eyes scan the face, certain cells in the amygdala, a part of the brain that processes social and emotional information, reach and trigger memory-making activity. “These cells, appropriately known as ‘face cells,’ appeared to activate only when people were looking at faces,” clinical neuropsychologist Jessica McCarthy tells Yahoo Life. In turn, these cells activate brain waves in the hippocampus, “which is a key part of the brain responsible for information processing and memory formation,” McCarthy says.

Essentially, our brains are just plain wired to detect and remember faces — and in turn, perhaps, to seek memory connections in those faces even when they may be false ones. “Sometimes we find people familiar because they share common features with many others we’ve seen before,” licensed therapist and psychologist Cheryl Groskopf tells Yahoo Life. “Our brains are tuned to pick up on familiar patterns, which helps us navigate social interactions more smoothly.”

While the “cousin face” phenomenon is mostly a fun, relatable way to describe those silly “déjà vu” moments with new acquaintances, “it also underscores the complexity of facial recognition processes in our brains,” Groskopf says.

So why do we do it? Because it’s easy. Our brains’ amazing ability to recognize and categorize faces, even when we can’t quite place whether or not we’ve seen them before, “likely evolved as a crucial social skill, helping us navigate complex tribal and familial relationships,” clinician and sociologist Natalie Rosado tells Yahoo Life. “It’s a great example of how our brains use shortcuts and patterns to make sense of the world. Our brains are constantly trying to match new information with existing patterns.”

According to Rosado, “cousin face” is about feeling a sense of familiarity with unfamiliar faces. “it’s like our brain’s facial recognition system working overtime!”

Why looks matter

So do some people really have a generic-looking “cousin face”? Pretty much. As much as our brains are indeed striving to find familiarity in faces all over the place, there is also a concept of the “average face” in psychology. “Studies have shown that we tend to find faces more attractive when they’re closer to the average of all the faces we’ve seen,” Rosado says. “So a ‘cousin face’ might be tapping into that same idea: a face that’s familiar because it’s somewhat ‘average’ in a comforting way.”

Nope. Face blindness, or prosopagnosia, is a neurological condition in which you cannot recognize familiar faces, including your own family or sometimes even your own face. “Cousin face” is actually the opposite; it’s “seeing familiarity in strangers’ faces,” Groskopf explains.

According to McCarthy, “cousin face” simply describes “a naturally occurring phenomenon of the intersection of facial recognition and memory — and is not considered a disorder.” But there is a related — albeit more extreme and diagnosable — medical condition called hyperfamiliarity for faces, or HFF, syndrome. “HFF syndrome is a relatively rare disorder in which unfamiliar people or faces appear familiar,” says McCarthy.

There are also some people who qualify as “super-recognizers,” which means they have a unique and genetically predisposed ability to recognize and remember faces.

The takeaway

While the “cousin face” phenomenon is mostly anecdotal, it does make sense in terms of how facial recognition works alongside our memories, It’s also worth noting, Rosado says, that the current popularity of this term on TikTok speaks to our shared human experiences. “It’s validating to discover that something you thought was just a quirk of your own perception is actually a common experience,” she says.