mollisol wrote:
I've lived across the street from these people for eight years; we interact occasionally; and yet when I saw them at a school meeting for parents today, they walked right in front of me to get seats; I looked at them several times and did not recognize them; it wasn't until one of them said "hi" (and I recognized her voice) that I realized who they were. I didn't recognize them until then.
I do recognize some people, though, especially if they look "distinctive" in some way; but if they look average or very, very normal I don't recognize them, or if I see people out of context I often won't recognize them. It's really frustrating sometimes. I just realized that there was one guy that I had a long conversation with after a funeral, we emailed a couple of times after that, but then at community functions in the following years I didn't recognize him until a few weeks ago. I don't know if this is prosopamnesia or if it's normal, but dang it, I want to get a handle on this. Is it normal to not recognize people like this? (Wait, did I mention that this is frustrating? aargh)
This is so like me, I could have written it myself. I find it nearly impossible to recognize people out of context (which is the exact phrase I normally use to describe it--interesting!) unless I know the person rather well. And even then, I have my moments, especially if something has changed about them (new haircut, no longer wearing a trademark hat or jacket, etc).
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"A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it."