Recognizing people

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I've always had a problem recognizing faces when they were not in familiar settings. This has started to become a problem because I have been teaching at the same institution now for a few years and I am starting to have students take several of my courses and can't remember who they are once they enroll in another of my classes. It is like I have to learn who they are all over again even if I remember everything they did in my old class. I know all my students when they are in class but it is frustrating to not know who they are when I see them out in the town, on campus, or in another one of my classes.

Has anyone had success improving their ability to recognizing people?

I have that same problem, as well.

Mine is I see someone and it takes seconds or longer for me to remember their name, if I can remember it at all.

It's most embarrassing when it's a casual passing when they say "Hi Fred" and I just have to respond "Hi" or inadvertently use the wrong name so as not to seem like I don't remember them.

Glad to see I'm not the only one. It happens nearly everyday for me walking down the street. I feel like I'm being rude. One time I expectantly met my old pastor, who has known me my whole life, outside of church and I couldn't bring myself to say his name once during the 5 min of conversation we had.

Yes, this happens to me all the time. It's been discussed on here before. It's called "prosopagnosia", or face-blindness. Somewhere on here, there's a link to a test you can take for it. I remember names, but not faces, which always wierds people out. I tend to recognize people by hair, voice, accessories, and above all, context.

I have the same problem, I can have met someone several times and still not recognize them. After a while, I can begin to recognize someone if they are in a particular setting EVERY time.

My memory works fairly well when recalling situations, so I try to place people in an event timeline...Once I remember a situation they were involved in, I can usually piece together the interaction, and from that, identify them.

Yup. I'm horrible at names, faces, voices, etc.
It was always a problem in high school when it was always assumed we all knew eachothers names and faces.

Do I know you people?













(damn, they look so familiar...)

I have never had this problem.
I can recognize almost every person I have seen more than twice.
By face of voice.

-Excuse me, are you my classmates?
-I have an essay for my teacher, could you give her? Who? Short, slim, black hair, dirty glasses... sorry, my sight is not good. You say it's Mrs X? Quite possible! So give her my essay, please
-Who are you? Oh, you are my neighbour!

All about me

I wish I had your courage when it comes to going up to people.

Aspie are not reluctant
And nobody does sth instead me, so sometimes I have to...

Does this mean not recognizing the person at all or knowing the face is familiar but not knowing who it is out of context?

"I am faceblind and cannot tell people apart in different situations, who are you again" or something like that. Roughly that, tailor towhatever social needs the neurotypicals need.

I deal with the face blindness issue everyday. I can't remember faces or recognize very well. I rely on other features like people have said, and if someone changes facial hair, hair cuts, or get a big change of clothes, I can get confused about who they are. It's also kind of strange knowing I don't remember my own face very well.

I get this also, but I don't think I understood that other people really don't have the same problem, until I read about the condition online. That was relatively recently. Before that I just thought everyone was like me, or something? (Obviously not exactly that.)

Back in the times when I was actually out in public and saw people often, there were pairs of people I used to confuse with each other. I was explaining it to a friend, thinking she would be able to empathize but she said the people I mentioned did not look alike at all.

Also I've always been very reluctant to use a name, unless I'm absolutely positively sure it's that person. One time I didn't recognize my own ex-boyfriend, and it had only been a year or so since we'd seen each other. We lived together for about six months and we were a couple for about a year altogether, so I was expected to know him? Ran into him in a train station, I was with my new boyfriend (the one I dumped him for) who also knew him, and I was starting to get peeved that my boyfriend wasn't introducing me to my ex. (I thought it was a friend of his that I had not met, and he'd forgotten or was being rude.)