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newt
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22 Nov 2004, 2:29 am

Does anyone else here have this problem? Face-blindness means that you have difficulty recognizing people's faces. Some people have a severe form of this where they can't even recognize their own mother. 8O My case certainly isn't that severe, but I often have to see someone many times over a period of at least a few days before I can really remember their face. So, I could meet someone new, and sit and talk to them for two hours, and then see them again the next day and not recognize them! As you can imagine, this can cause some uncomfortable and embarrassing situations. Can anyone else relate?


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UltimApe
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22 Nov 2004, 9:06 am

If something doesn't come instinctually to me, I develope a logical system for getting around it.

I'd actively look at a persons face and gauge certain things, like how low the nose goes, or the color of their eyes, or the composiure of their skin.

At first it would take a while to "recognize" them, in this manner, but it would soon come about really quickly as you practice.

I have a lot of problems like this, but my systems of copeing with them are very effiecent. For things like this, I do it enough so that I've actually become more proficeint then someone who can do it naturally.



coyote
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22 Nov 2004, 11:31 am

Same thing for me :( It takes a couple of time before the image is fixed in my mind. I remember in high school when i was meeting a cute women and i wasn't able to recall her face once at home..... that was very anoying. :evil: That cause problem when i watch a movie. I don't recognize the actors, really hard to follow the story :wink:



animallover
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22 Nov 2004, 1:12 pm

I don't recognize people if they are in the wrong situation and I don't expect to see them - like I didn't recognize my best friend at the grocery store - I knew that I knew him, but I had to talk to him for a while before it hit me who he was . . .



midge
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22 Nov 2004, 11:42 pm

I have this too somewhat; I usually remember people by their other features such as their hair, height, what they usually wear, and any other unique features. The dangerous thing about this though is that if they change something it can throw you off. I usually have to stare at someone a minute or two before I start recognize them, which makes it kinda weird if it ends up being someone I don't know, which is often :oops: Sometimes if I don't know them well yet and I ask them who they are they don't mind, and sometimes once I start talking to someone it suddenly clicks after a few minutes, but they usually have to spot me out first, I sometimes can't pick them out.



animallover
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23 Nov 2004, 1:40 pm

The worst for me is when men shave off their beards (or any sort of facial hair) - they look like totally different people yet expect that I should still know who they are right off . . .



newt
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23 Nov 2004, 4:13 pm

UltimApe wrote:
I'd actively look at a persons face and gauge certain things, like how low the nose goes, or the color of their eyes, or the composiure of their skin.


Sometimes this is helpful for me too, but when I do that, I usually don't really hear what they're saying since I have trouble concentrating on something with my eyes and listening at the same time. So then I'll recognize them, but I'll have no clue we talked about the last time I saw them. :lol: Oh well.


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batman
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23 Nov 2004, 10:10 pm

:? I have the hardest time rembering what people look like.



Glenn
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24 Nov 2004, 5:21 am

Yup, it seems this problem (face-blindness or prosopagnosia) is fairly common among Aspies....I definitely have it.
In fact if you look down the list of topics in this "General Discussion" forum, you will see one headed "Help! Who are you?" where I introduced the same subject and got quite a few replies, which might interest you too. (The topic quite a way down now, easy to miss!)
In my case, although (looking back) I always found it difficult to reconise people, but it got much much worse after I suffered a brain haemorrhage - which required surgery - some years ago. I remember describing the problem to my surgeon, wondering if he would think I was imagining it. But he told me that it was a recognised condition, and that considering the area of the brain where I had required surgery, he was not at all surprised at my symptoms (unfortunately. the bleeding occurred close to the area of the brain that is involved in face-recognition). I asked if the problem would ever get better, and he told me no; I had it for life, and would have to develop other ways of recognising people (voices, movements, mannerisms etc...even temporary things like hairdos and clothes.)
Social situations are difficult enough for Aspies wothout the added coplication of not remembering who is who! I have even failed to recognise my mother and my son when I met them unexpectedly where I did not expect to see them. At first, people found it hilariously funny that I couldnt recognise faces ... but eventually they realised it was no joke!



Fiddler
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24 Nov 2004, 6:18 am

I usually recognise people thanks to their voice, their perfume/smell, and the way they breath.
When I don't get those signals, like when people are far away from me, or when I look at a picture of them, it's hard to recognise people. I can do it, but I don't recognize them at once, it's a rather slow process.

My mother is like me.



magic
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27 Nov 2004, 7:12 pm

I wouldn't say that I have prosopagnosia, but...

On Monday I was training two guys, A. and D. I knew A. before, but I saw D. for the first time that day. After we talked 2.5 hours about software (while looking at each other), we decided to go eat lunch. A. and D. left the room, while I stayed behind to shut down my laptop. One minute later I went outside, but there was only one unknown guy standing in the corridor, and A. and D. were not there. I decided to wait for them, but suddenly the stranger said in D.'s voice "Magic, are you ready for lunch?". Hmm...

On Thursday I was watching a movie and had the utmost difficulty telling apart two female characters. For example, I was very bewildered when I saw a very noble lady dancing in the saloon. Obviously, following the plot was somewhat difficult in these circumstances.



echospectra
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27 Nov 2004, 8:29 pm

magic wrote:
On Thursday I was watching a movie and had the utmost difficulty telling apart two female characters. For example, I was very bewildered when I saw a very noble lady dancing in the saloon. Obviously, following the plot was somewhat difficult in these circumstances.


I (not just me, all of me) have difficulty with people in films too... Like, you've got two young men with dark hair and wearing the same kind of clothes, both relatively unimportant characters but important enough to matter to the plot - you have to know whether they're good or bad or indifferent. This makes you have to see the film twice in order to really know whether you even like it.

I'm not really faceblind, but I do get confused when I meet people in the wrong context.



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22 Mar 2021, 9:42 pm

newt wrote:
Does anyone else here have this problem? Face-blindness means that you have difficulty recognizing people's faces. Some people have a severe form of this where they can't even recognize their own mother. 8O My case certainly isn't that severe, but I often have to see someone many times over a period of at least a few days before I can really remember their face. So, I could meet someone new, and sit and talk to them for two hours, and then see them again the next day and not recognize them! As you can imagine, this can cause some uncomfortable and embarrassing situations. Can anyone else relate?


Yes I can relate and indirectly it is what brought me to this site.... [Long story!]