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ngonz
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04 Feb 2009, 7:05 pm

I have always had this problem, but it is getting worse. I can never remember names. Sometimes I can't even remember the names of close relatives. I can live with this problem of mine. It is easy to admit to and only slightly embarrassing.

What I don't understand is how I can forget faces. I can see and speak to a person every day for months on end, and then one day, I will forget who that person is. Not his/her name; I will forget that I know this person. His/her face will look unfamiliar to me--and I would have just spoken to this person the day before!

What exactly is this? It is embarrassing---much worse than forgetting a name. Like I said, I have always had this and used to be very worried about meeting up with friends because I was afraid I would not recognize them. I took a facial recognition test and it said that I can easily recognize faces, so I am at a loss to explain this.


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melissa17b
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04 Feb 2009, 7:38 pm

Sounds like prosopagnosia - where the brain's "face recognition circuitry" doesn't work quite right, if at all. I understand that it is somewhat common among autistic people.

You are not alone. I have also struggled with this for years, only recently coming to understand it somewhat. I'm sure many others here can relate.



pensieve
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04 Feb 2009, 7:46 pm

I have a hard time remembering names, especially if introduced to several people at once. I might start calling a Harry Sally,lol.
I have face blindness too. Not good when you have a long distance relationship, but good when you break up and you happen to be at the same place at the same time.



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04 Feb 2009, 8:35 pm

Maybe its related to ADD. Like if you aren't paying attention when someone introduces themselves because as an Aspie maybe you don't really care about other people so you tuned them out. Or maybe they bored you. So naturally you won't remember their name and face if you didn't pay attention when they introduced themselves. Just a thought...



kittenmeow
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05 Feb 2009, 6:47 am

not very good with faces but I like to memorize people's name tags.



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05 Feb 2009, 7:41 am

Yep, same problem. Forgot my best friend's name once. It's REALLY irritating. And people don't realize (cause everybody says that they have a bad memory for names/faces to cover up any mishaps), so they just assume that you didn't care enough to try and remember.

But yeah, today we had two tables of people at our resturant, and I charged one of the guys with the wrong bill because I have no facial recollection of customers and assumed he was a guy from the other table (even though I had spoken to him 5 minutes before). I could speak to a customer, and (literally) a minute later they could come up to me and I would not know that they had been the one I had spoken to.


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ngonz
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05 Feb 2009, 9:30 am

sunshower wrote:
Yep, same problem. Forgot my best friend's name once. It's REALLY irritating. And people don't realize (cause everybody says that they have a bad memory for names/faces to cover up any mishaps), so they just assume that you didn't care enough to try and remember.

But yeah, today we had two tables of people at our resturant, and I charged one of the guys with the wrong bill because I have no facial recollection of customers and assumed he was a guy from the other table (even though I had spoken to him 5 minutes before). I could speak to a customer, and (literally) a minute later they could come up to me and I would not know that they had been the one I had spoken to.


This is exactly how it is for me. It's not that I didn't pay attention or was bored with someone. These are people I see daily for months or years, or someone I just spoke to. How can I forget a whole conversation or forget that I have known someone pretty well? It truly is embarrassing.


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howzat
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05 Feb 2009, 12:51 pm

Im ok with faces but not so good with names.



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05 Feb 2009, 1:13 pm

Yes I've done this before.
It's especially confusing if I've only seen the person for a few minutes or hours, then have to find them a few days later.

I sometimes remember facts about the person, but not their face or name.

Once I assumed that I was talking to one woman, when I was actually talking to another. Thankfully the woman was a colleague of the other woman and no names were mentioned, so I got away with that situation.

It does get better when I've seen the person around for at least a year.
It improves with practice.

Lots of people all crowded together and chatting are the worst.
I just don't know where to start.



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05 Feb 2009, 1:30 pm

melissa17b wrote:
Sounds like prosopagnosia - where the brain's "face recognition circuitry" doesn't work quite right, if at all. I understand that it is somewhat common among autistic people.



Glad to know it has an official name ! !
This has put me in some embarrassing situations, where I mix up one person with another. I once asked a bloke how he was doing, convinced he was someone else who had been very sick (!) I also can't identify someone out of context. If I see someone at work, for instance, and then see them in the grocery store, I have no idea who they are except some part of my brain keeps saying I know them.


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FlamingYouth
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05 Feb 2009, 3:45 pm

That is part of autism. We have a hard time remembering names and faces. It's happened to me a gazillion times in my life. Somebody I don't think I've ever seen before, or who I know I've seen before but barely recognize, will walk up to me and say "Hi, Chris" and I will think "How on earth did that person know my name?" I've heard people give complaints like this: "I swear I know everybody else's name, but nobody knows my name!" For me, it's always the opposite!



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05 Feb 2009, 3:48 pm

I'm good with faces but not so good with names
When I started highschool I made friends with this girl and for months I kept forgetting her name and felt too stupid to ask so I waited for someone alse to call her name lol


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RoisinDubh
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05 Feb 2009, 3:55 pm

howzat wrote:
Im ok with faces but not so good with names.


Ditto.

I'm ridiculously good at remembering faces....and everything else, for that matter....but names? Forget it. And try explaining why you can't remember someone's name when you're infamous for your near-photographic memory. :oops:



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05 Feb 2009, 4:04 pm

I can;t remember names, and the only way I can attach a face to a name is if there was was something very significant about the person that made a unique impression on me. Example: My tutor, who is female has a face that is female in structure, and a very masculine hair style, plus, I was expecting something very different given the name, so I remembered it based on it was not what I would expect. I have a hard time with names, and an even harder time with faces. I can remember faces if given enough time though, like a couple of years.



RoisinDubh
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05 Feb 2009, 4:11 pm

Padium wrote:
I can;t remember names, and the only way I can attach a face to a name is if there was was something very significant about the person that made a unique impression on me. Example: My tutor, who is female has a face that is female in structure, and a very masculine hair style, plus, I was expecting something very different given the name, so I remembered it based on it was not what I would expect. I have a hard time with names, and an even harder time with faces. I can remember faces if given enough time though, like a couple of years.


I often use devices like this to remember names....it's almost like studying for an exam in a subject you're clueless on.



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05 Feb 2009, 5:17 pm

Makes me wonder what an Autism Convention would go like?
We'd keep wondering how that person knows our name, oh yeah, my name badge ! !


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