'˜Lois Lane would recognise Superman' claim Scots researchers

Clark Kent's ability to hide his true identity as Superman would prove to be impossible in real life, according to research.

Humans' ability to spot unique body movements makes leading a double life difficult. Picture: Loresjoberg/Flickr

The fictional newspaper reporter is able to diguise his crime-fighting alter-ego every time he dons the famous red cape, leaving his girlfriend Lois Lane none the wiser.

But the reality of pretending to be two different people to close friends and loved ones would be challenging due to humans’ ability to identify unique body movements.

A study by a team from the University of Aberdeen, published in the journal Visual Cognition, investigated how we are able to identify our peers, and found that when facial information is not available we can use body motion instead.

The study - the first of its kind to use life-like avatars - aimed to get to the bottom of how we are so good at recognising each other.

Dr Karin Pilz, of Aberdeen’s school of psychology, said: “The current perception is that identity recognition is usually done on faces alone but obviously body motion is also important because we usually see people as whole bodies!

“Even in difficult conditions, we are really good at person recognition and so, I think it’s important to understand that we’re using information other than faces so we can get an insight into how we achieve this unique skill.

“Our results show that we are able to use body motion when other cues are ambiguous or unavailable - so we basically assume that we can use body motion as a reliable cue to identity when other information is less available or reliable such as when a person is far away or when they’re in bad lighting conditions.

“I’ve always questioned why Lois Lane doesn’t recognise Clark Kent or why Bruce Wayne has never been identified as Batman – now we know that they should be recognised based on their body motion.