Do you live with face blindness?
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Anonymous
| How do you manage? I think I have a mild case of it. I often run into people I should know immediately and it takes me a minute to register. Is this the kind of condition that can worsen? |
Anonymous
| Are you an introvert? I just read somewhere that introverts don’t get the dopamine hit from viewing faces and this happens as a result. |
Anonymous
| No it cannot worsen |
Anonymous
|
I do. It hasn’t gotten significantly better or worse over time. It’s hard, but you adapt and keep going. You know you’re bad with faces, so you can figure out ways to help yourself, plus you know not to assume you know who someone is. Most people are understanding and interested when I share that I have face blindness. I definitely let friends and coworkers know, because if I run into them somewhere I don’t expect to see them, I probably won’t recognize them and I don’t want them to think I’m rude.
Some things I find helpful: don’t assume someone on the sidewalk is a friend you haven’t seen in months and give them a hug until you’re sure it’s your friend. Also, if a friend is picking you up, know their license plate so you don’t hop into the first white car that parks near you, because it might not be your friend. Similarly, if you’re picking someone up, don’t assume someone near where you planned to meet is your friend-it could be someone waiting for their uber, and people will get into your car if you seem like you’re expecting them to. Smile and nod when people seem friendly because you might know them and it can be offensive if you’re cold, but no harm done if you smile and nod to a stranger. Of course, try to find some notable characteristic to help you identify people-glasses, shoes, jewelry, hairstyles, winter coats-look for things that don’t change as often as shirts. Use IMDB to find out who’s in a movie or tv show before you watch (and see what else they’ve been in) so you don’t fixate on trying to figure out who the actors are or what else they’ve been in. Expect war movies to be hard to follow because uniforms make it hard to tell people apart. |
Anonymous
| I thought everyone had this. I never recognize people until I've spent meaningful time with them. I have no idea how to tell my casual acquaintance neighbors or my kid's friends apart. |
Anonymous
|
Same. I usually recognize people by facial hair, hair / shape and context combinations. A drastically different haircut would throw me majorly off.
When I was younger I used to make the mistakes pp lists above. My worst monent was when I participated in a small workshop for work, and thought I barely know anyone until we started going around the table introducing ourselves. That is when it hit me that I know most people in that room. I live with it, cause what other option do I have? I think I got a bit better working around it with time. Paying more attention to attributed other than face. |
Anonymous
| I remember spending a whole movie checking with dh who’s who. Forgot who the actors where, but they had same haircuts and hair / skin / eye colors. |
Anonymous
Are there any stats on how many more faces people today are exposed to (via travel, media, larger lives) than our evolutionary brains intended? That would be interesting because some of us can evolve and some of us have the original limitations. I wonder if it's related to pareidolia, specifically seeing faces in things? |
Anonymous
| I have this and I also have a terrible directional sense--I feel like they're somehow related |
Anonymous
Oh, interesting. I'm a huge introvert and experience this sometimes. I'm always surprised when people recognize me after meeting me briefly---my own experience is usually the opposite. |
Anonymous
| How common is face blindness really? I happen to have a good visual memory for faces and,although I might not always remember names, I usually can pinpoint how I know the person. I have had many many instances with people looking straight through me (people who *should* know me) and have always just assumed they were being rude or were preoccupied. Maybe actual face blindness is more common than I realized? |
Anonymous
Same. I can’t remember if it was anecdotal or from a study but I remember reading that people with face blindness often have trouble with their sense of direction and being able to identify makes and models of cars. I also have aphantasia (and was told here that isn’t a real thing), but it doesn’t seem like aphantasia and prosopagnosia are related. Some people have one, some have both, most have neither, and no one really seems to understand why or how any of it works. |
Anonymous
Interesting-I am big introvert and a legit super-recognizer. On the other hand, I have zero innate sense of direction-i can learn directions find but if I’m not trying in no way just remember how to get someplace. I don’t find that it’s a big help (and I’m not great with names, so can still feel embarrassed in what I imagine is the same way.) I think it’s just genetic. I also sometimes feel like it would be nice to be closer to the face blindness end of the spectrum bc I’ll often recognize/remember things about people that would freak them out if they knew, like they once attended a gymnastics trial lesson with their child 8 years ago or I will meet someone in a social setting and realize I’ve seen them in my dentists waiting room. |
Anonymous
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I have tools, like I don't introduce people. I don't call people by their names. I'm able to fake a conversation until they tell me who they are or they give me a hint how we know each other.
Sometimes I just up and say, i'm so sorry, this is so embarrassing, but your name isn't coming to me. I wish people just wouldn't take it personally. And if you are brandon vs brendon forget it or Thompson, Thomas, Thoms... Ill get it wrong every time. |
Anonymous
I recognize people mostly by their voices. So until you speak to me, I might not know who you are. |