Face Blindness/Prosopagnosia

[e79243]

Does anyone have this issue like I do? It cause huge issues with me. I will see either my neighbor that lives next door in some strange place other than next door so I do not recognize them for about 30 seconds. I will see one of my daughter's teachers at a store. It will take me a while to know who they are even though they said hi. I will see a co worker at the mall, it will take me a while to get in my head who they are. I will stare for a while and say nothing and finally it will come to me who they are . All the while they are wondering why I am staring at them but saying nothing when I perfectly know them. I cannot believe how much this happens to me.

 

[peoplesrjames]

I usually have to meet people 3 or 4 times before I remember who they are.

 

[e79243]

I will see my neighbor across the street instead of next door like I usually do. I will stare for a while at them across the street and finally after staring a long while it will come in my mind who they are. It is so embarrassing

 

[Nitro]

My version of autism left me with an image based memory,so I never have that issue to deal with

 

[Sportster]

That happens to me all the time. Over the years I've developed strategies to help me identify people like certain physical characteristics or maybe they wear a certain kind of wristwatch, etc. I catalog those identifiers with the name of someone so I'll have faster recall of who they are even though I've met them several times before.

The most embarrassing incident happened when I was a boy of about 8 or 9 and I saw a fellow that looked similar to my dad; he was a cop, so the fellow was also a cop sitting in a cruiser. I walked up and started talking to him not realizing it wasn't my dad until he spoke. It was his voice that alerted me that it wasn't my dad. Those who have never experienced it don't understand what's happening inside our head and how distressing it can be.

 

[Ronin82]

i have a hard time recognizing my own mother in a crowd of people, like the grocery store. I have to remember what she was wearing when we arrived so I can recognize that. Trained my first service dog to "find mom" so that he could do the recognizing instead of me! Yeah, I recognize people more by context and physical structure than actual face. Faces all look the same to me at first glance....

 

[DogwoodTree]

There are some people I remember very easily after seeing them just once. I think it tends to happen more often with men, because I feel safer actually looking at their faces. I tend to remember a person's look based on their hair style as well as the way they walk and move. Men typically have very simple hairstyles, so then I tune in a little more to their faces to compensate (unless they have a beard...then I'm totally thrown, and won't be able to distinguish one bearded man from another, if their beards are the same length). And the way a man moves is more natural to him, rather than having been "trained" somehow like women seem to do.

With women (and please keep in mind that I'm also a woman, so this isn't meant to put women down or anything), they seem to look so much the same to me. There are sooo many women in my neck of the woods who dye their hair blonde and wear it in one of just a few styles (depending on age). If there are 10 women in the room with a total of three different hairstyles among them, I won't be able to remember who is who, or recognize any of them if I see them later. It's easier to remember women who have more natural hairstyles, something less sculpted...their natural color, a cut that is appropriate to their personality, and not overly "fixed."

 

[ancusmitis]

I mostly have trouble recognizing people's faces. I'm not faceblind exactly, but I very often confuse one person with another. I tend to look at the face a lot less, and I use other things to recognize people.

 

[Adora]

I have this problem I have had incidents where I didn't recognise someone even though I should have since I met them heaps before I didn't even recognise my own wedding photographer when I came across him again a few months ago

 

[Astroganga]

Yes I have this problem. It can be very embarrassing sometimes. I have had people come up to me and even after speaking to them for a few minutes I still can't recall who they are, but pretend to know them. I think they realise though and one aquaintance got really offended. I also don't recognise my own children if they come in my room in the morning for 30-60 seconds. I also muddle up similar looking people, it's strange though as there are certain similar looking people whom others muddle up, but I never do. For example I know these two sisters and everyone mixes them up but I have not done so once.

 

[Jimbo]

I have this problem unless the person has very distinct features. I have many customers in my carpet cleaning business that I would not recognize if I saw them out in public.

Even if I think I recognize them I usually don't speak first to avoid embarrassment if it's not them.

 

[Arethosemyfeet]

I have this issue too. Yet another reason social situations are Not for me. I find towns and cities a nightmare. Terrible with names also.

 

[paloftoon]

I definitely have a bit of a problem with it. People that get kind of mean when I don't remember them, those are the ones I tend to try to stay away from.

If they interact with me a bit more than the "normal person", then I usually tend to remember that person more.

Here are a few links of potential interest too (if you can see them in your country).

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-blindness-when-everyone-is-a-stranger-20-03-2012/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-you-have-trouble-recognizing-faces-take-a-test/

 

[ancusmitis]

Maybe I'm actually faceblind afterall. Some of the questions that woman asks are kind of mean. I can see the humiliation and anxiety in their faces when they are asked to identify people. When the woman is shown her doughter in front of everyone else you can see the jolt she feels. It wasn't very nice.

 

[DogwoodTree]

The tests that I've seen test for face blindness by showing faces of famous people. If it's someone I've seen in a movie or on a TV show (and bothered to learn the actor's name), I can probably recognize the face because I don't have any trouble studying their faces when they're not actually looking at me in return. But in normal, everyday life...I rely on remembering a person's hair style and the ways they move rather than looking at their faces. I guess that's not so much face blindness as it is face avoidance (like avoiding eye contact).

 

[Diagnosed2015]

I have face blindness and gender blindness. When I'm speaking to someone, I often have to keep glancing away and "rechecking" their gender, because I want to use the correct pronoun.

I have a terrible time recognizing faces or remembering what people look like. If I wave to my neighbor who's on the porch every morning, I won't recognize them somewhere else.

I've had instances where people I should know knock on my door and I stand there trying to figure out who they are. One day, a neighbor walked up to my friend and started talking. When I asked who it was, he told me, "you wave to her all the time," but I have no idea what they look like somewhere else.

Also, sometimes when I look at someone's face, it blurs, as if you were trying to hide someone's identity. It's difficult, because I am very good at maintaining eye contact, but occassionally, I can't "see" their eyes.

The other thing I notice is, when I think I "remember" someone, I have a whole different person in mind. Like, if I met you once, I would walk away and register a "look" in my mind, the "look" is not what you looked like. Often, when reconnecting with someone, I don't recognize the person approaching me as the person I was there to meet.

Lastly, if I'm more than about 2 feet away, I can't see someone's features at all.

 

[Uhura]

I think I have it to a degree. People's faces are clear. Yet I spent a lot of my life not looking up. I walked looking down. I still have to do that at times.

I usually have to hear someone's voice before I can know who they are. Even then sometimes I just say hi and act like I know them.

 

[EricD]

Me too! Is it an ASD thing?

 

[Datura]

I can generally recognize people I know, but have difficulty placing aquaintences, even if I have known them for years. I have found myself standing next to somebody I have known for year, looking directly at them, and not even registering that I know them until they say "hello." There are other times when a person will change their hair and the next time we meet I will have no idea who they are, even if it hasn't been that long since we last saw each other.

One particularly emberrasing incident was when I was waiting for a date. I saw a person approaching and thought, "Is that her? It could be. She has the same general build and hair colour. I just saw her three days ago, but it could be someone else." As it turns out it was her, but she could tell from my body language that I didn't recognize her and was kind of put off by it.

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

My funny experience (as I'm faceblind-ish with new people until I've met them a couple of times) was my team leader for a job I was doing in a store of whom I tried to sell a product to not realizing that we'd met once before.

Oddly enough though I am capable of recognizing people from school (not seen in over 10yrs) from just seeing the backs of their head, I've done it a few times and I always notice when someone changes their appearance in any way (I.e haircut or style or glasses).

paloftoon very interesting video

Some of you would make terrible police officers or security guards then, you chase a suspect and he later gets to walk past you and even directs you lol