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changing hairstyles or other facial features

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AV-geek
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11 Oct 2006, 11:01 pm

Do any of you all have trouble recognizing someone if they change some telltale characteristic of their face? For instance if someone drastically alters their hairstyle, wears contacts instead of glasses or vice-versa, or changes their facial hair? To me, these things can throw me off quite a bit. For example, I didn't recognize someone I knew well a while back when I haven't seen him in a year or so. He had grown his hair out, started wearing contacts, and grew a goatee. I just couldn't place him at all! The others I was with recognized him right off!



Mnemosyne
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11 Oct 2006, 11:21 pm

Like a lot of aspies, I have prosopagnosia, so no, I don't recognize people when they change something about their appearance. I don't even recognize my husband if he cuts his hair.



krex
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12 Oct 2006, 2:12 am

Yep,this is a problem for me.I tend to have some "type' catagorizing of people to try and identify them.
Male...female....skin color...hair color....short ...tall....unusual trait...large,small,oddly shaped feature...age.....if someone were to ask me what some one looked like it would be something to do with those characteristics......and I would only remember them if I saw the person on several occassions....more time spent,more characteristics I might recall.....as far as putting a name or place I met them....thats much harder.I have been wondering lately if that is why I am more atracted to people with "unique characteristics"...I find "model types and a lot of TV actors...boring and unattractive.The exception to this is people I have obsessed about and studied their photoes...then they are burned into my mind, but stuck at that age.

I was constantly amazed when others recognised me,even though I may have gained or lost weight, completly changed my hair color or aged...it was like they were doing a magic trick.


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scrulie
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12 Oct 2006, 5:21 am

krex wrote:
I am more atracted to people with "unique characteristics"...I find "model types and a lot of TV actors...boring and unattractive.

Same here! My friend fancies people like George Clooney, who I can see is very handsome but just leaves me cold! I tend to fancy blokes with unusual faces, interesting teeth etc.


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Hovis
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12 Oct 2006, 8:15 am

AV-geek wrote:
Do any of you all have trouble recognizing someone if they change some telltale characteristic of their face? For instance if someone drastically alters their hairstyle, wears contacts instead of glasses or vice-versa, or changes their facial hair?


Definitely. I tend to identify people by a sort of 'Has this kind of hair + has glasses + is this kind of height/weight + is in this place at this time = This person' formula rather than by face, so a change can really throw me.

I'm not sure whether I have true prosopagnosia or not, but even without the above problems, I usually have to meet people half a dozen times or so before I'll recognize them on sight. If the periods of time between each meeting are long, it might be even more than that.



Hovis
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12 Oct 2006, 8:45 am

scrulie wrote:
krex wrote:
I am more atracted to people with "unique characteristics"...I find "model types and a lot of TV actors...boring and unattractive.

Same here! My friend fancies people like George Clooney, who I can see is very handsome but just leaves me cold! I tend to fancy blokes with unusual faces, interesting teeth etc.


Agreed. Staying with George as an example, I suppose, technically, he is good looking, but he's just like 95% of other 'good looking guys' - I don't see what's special; what it is that would make someone pick him out in particular. He's got a forgettable face to me.

I tend to be very much attracted by people's personalities. There are actors, or characters that they've played, who I find extremely attractive who are no more than average-looking at best.



Scintillate
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12 Oct 2006, 12:37 pm

Everywhere I go I see faces that are familiar, and I know I've seen them before, theres something about me that as soon as I've spoken to someone, I will try my very best to find out what matters most to them, and that acts as a kind of sign post.

It's hard to explain, nothing to do with physical looks, but I never remember names, I never remember exact faces, even people I've known for ages vanish after a week or two, but things they actually care about define them in my memory crystal clear... Because I find it so interesting, it feels photographic, and I worked out I can attach certain images of people to this system.


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DrowningMedusa
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12 Oct 2006, 7:56 pm

Scintillate wrote:
Everywhere I go I see faces that are familiar, and I know I've seen them before, theres something about me that as soon as I've spoken to someone, I will try my very best to find out what matters most to them, and that acts as a kind of sign post.

It's hard to explain, nothing to do with physical looks, but I never remember names, I never remember exact faces, even people I've known for ages vanish after a week or two, but things they actually care about define them in my memory crystal clear... Because I find it so interesting, it feels photographic, and I worked out I can attach certain images of people to this system.


This is great advice, Scintillate!
I have this trouble as well, and it's really emarassing to introduce yourself to the same person 2 or 3 times, which I've been known to do.

And now that I think about it, the times where I HAVE remembered someone right off the bat were because that person struck me in a way that had nothing to do with their physical features... 8)