Faces

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I ran across a few articles that say that people with ASDs typically focus more on the mouth than the eyes of people. Do you find that to be true of yourself, and if so, why the predilection for the mouth rather than the eyes?

I dont look at the mouth at all because it moves around. I actually look more at the nose. I usually look at the eyes every once in awhile and when I feel uncomfortable I go back to nose.

What makes you uncomfortable when looking at the eyes? Also, would you categorize your ability to recognize faces as: Excellent 100% of time Good 75% of time Average 50% of time Fair 25% of time or Poor 0% of time?

I am not uncomfortable looking at eyes, and do not remember ever being so. But I do remember an old lady encouraging me to do it when I was a kid, so I suppose I wasn't doing it the normal amount then.

I suppose I recognize people after one viewing slightly less than half the time, which is appearantly spectacularly bad for a human. Though if I'm in the room, I don't lose track of who is who during the time that I'm there. It's when I see the person again a day or a week later that I don't recognize them. I used to work with a guy who's so face-blind that I could change chairs with the person next to me while he wasn't looking and he'd confidently believe that we were one another.

I never forget a face once I had a good look at it. I remember some people I passed in some dark alley 5 years ago the moment I meet them again. it's kinda cool how I can creep people out with this- I live in a relatively small town and it has happened to me that after being introduced to someone I would say something like- I've seen you before, you were in this pub one winter night in 1998 with a friend and you drank Guinness and you had a red sweater on lol

recognising the expressions, now that's a whole different story alltogether.

I would say I scan the whole face quickly, including eyes, then look away entirely. Even when I'm having a conversation with them, I only spend about a quarter of the time or less looking at the person. The rest of the time I'm looking off to the side, at the ceiling, wall, lights, floor, any other stuff besides them. It's not that I'm terrified of eyes, it just feels unnatural to be locked in them.

Well this is an interesting question. Upon reflecting, I think that I do, on occasion, pay a lot of attention to the mouth. I don't do it often, but when I do, it almost like I looked at the mouth and then, "zoned out", and cannot look away. Like i am fixed upon it. Dont know why.

I have a real problem with eye contact when I am talking, but I can look in the eyes when someone else is talking. I don't know why. Maybe a self confidence thing. I find that I like to look at the mouth a lot, but I am a smile person. I love a bright, white, fiendly smile. I have noticed, though, that even if there is a nice smile there has to be a smile in the voice to hold my attention. If I get attitude from anyone, then I don't give them my eyes at all. It varies.

I look at the mouth and eyes. Don't have much of a problem with eye contact with people I know, but with strangers I gaze at their mouths.

I have pretty bad prosapognosia, though it used to be worse. There was a time when I couldn't recognize my own parents.

I tend to look at the face and then the eyes. I don't normally look at the mouth.

I don't concentrate on any specific area of the face. Actually, I have very poor recall of what a person looks like. If I ever had to work with a police sketch artist, I would draw a blank and be VERY vague, totally helpless. I don't even remember obvious things like, beard, mustache, glasses, etc...

That's exactly how I would describe myself.

In fact, today, I was at my parent's house and my mom was watching a soap opera, One Life to Live. I saw a guy on the screen who looked familiar and I asker her if he used to be on another one of her soaps a while back. She said no, and then about five minutes later she suddenly remembered that he had been on General Hospital about 15 years ago, when I was about 11.

I think I scared a waitress one time, because I remembered her from when she used to swim laps at a pool that I life-guarded at about 5 years before. I told her I remembered her from the pool and asked if she still did yoga before she swam. Her eyes suddenly got wide and she looked slightly freaked out. The whole "creepy" factor is somewhat magnified when you're a guy, because it can make you look a bit stalker-ish. By the end of dinner, though, I guess I'd made her feel a bit more comfortable, because she told me I should stop by and see her again and even told me the name of the new pool she started swimming at. I realize now that I should have come back and asked her out, but at the time, my aspie-ness blinded me to that fact.

Im the same. When I go to a family get together, I only know the people by their faces -I dont even know most of their names or how they are related to me.

I focus on the big picture most of the time.

I take in the whole face, including the eyes. But, I do so in small "glances". Having said that, most faces look the same to me. So, if I do not recognise you at the market, don't be angry.

I was taught to smile and make eye contact when I was a kid doing Scottish Country Dancing. When I went back to the dancing as an adult I found I had to hold back, since I was being too intense about it (you can get away with more as a kid).

In conversation (what's that?) I think I tend to make eye contact then shift to looking at the person with peripheral vision. Don't ask me to remember what they look like or what they said, though.