Comments on: How Faceblindness Works?

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:34:56 +0000

We had one day a few years ago where I got about 14 inches taken off of my hair, and my one daughter didn’t recognize me when I went to school to pick her up. Her teacher had to do some fast talking to try to convince her to leave with me, and we still had major screaming for a few hours afterwards. There have been times when my son didn’t recognize me- usually when he was in an extremely stressful situation.

Both of them are enthralled with watching themselves in the mirror- my daughter more than anyone. She uses the mirror to practice her facial expressions as well as to check to see if she’s exhibiting the appropriate expression. It’s interesting.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:19:37 +0000

@Casdok,
oh no, so glad it was just a few seconds!

When I have more than one student with the same name, or names that start with the same letter (3 Daniels one year and a David; 3 Chrises this year) I have tended to confuse them. Much to my embarrassment—-I can have the names in my head, but not do so well matching them to faces—–I can always spot Charlie and Jim in any crowd. Indeed, Jim and I know we can spot Charlie front or back—he has a distinct way of holding his body, or distinct enough that we can see it.

I remember still the first time, when he was 5 or 6, that Charlie really seemed to be aware of his reflection in a mirror. It was after he had lost a tooth and he was really intrigued to see himself and in the mirror and the gap where the tooth had been: He climbed up atop the sink and examined himself very carefully.

By: Alli

Alli — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:25:35 +0000

Alec seems to lose the ability to recognise people when he is stressed and when things change a lot.
Last year in pre primary they all wore casual clothes but when they moved to grade one they have a uniform, for the first few weeks he had a lot of trouble recognising his class mates so we made him a face book of his whole class with their names.

By: Iheartfashion

Iheartfashion — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:57:21 +0000

I never remember a face. Well, not unless I’ve known the person for years. And even then, not always, as I failed to identify my mother’s next-door-neighbor of 20 years last week in the grocery store when he said hello.

By: Melody

Melody — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:44:17 +0000

I recognize mostly by voice and by the way people hold themselves, the way they walk. But I don’t remember names well, so even that isn’t very helpful all the time. Also, my vision lately can’t go to 20/20 with glasses, like it used to, so now people in addition look blurry.

By: Catana

Catana — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:11:37 +0000

Hair is unreliable because it changes. Unless a person has at least one very distinctive feature or I’ve had many chances to become familiar with their face, I depend mostly on voices.”Generic” actors confuse me when they grow beards, change hair styles, etc. Some people have a distinctive gait, but you’re not always in a position to see that. I’ve always had a preference for older men, and now that I know about my faceblindness, I know it’s because people’s featurs become more distinctive as they mature, so they’re easier to recognize.

By: Norah

Norah — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:43:53 +0000

“i’ve mentioned this before, but i have some sort of reverse version of this, where i have a terrible time remembering what i look like. i’ve never been able to form a self-image, mentally. i can look at mirrors, photos and identify my features, but they fail to stick for some reason.

but the faces of others i seem to be okay with.”

Heh, I have this (or something a lot like it) too. I actually wrote a blog post about it not that long ago.

I’m terrible with names, but I have a very good memory for other people’s faces.

By: hammie

hammie — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:15:13 +0000

I can only remember people’s names once I know something about them, then I can visualise them with their name. I find that names are too abstract to visualise, and especially in Ireland; everybody looks the same! (not much ethnic diversity in the gene-pool yet)

However, if someone tells me their kid’s name; I remember it straight away. Says something about my brain doesnt it?

Boo will look at the vaguest features of the person you are asking him to greet; and come up with someone similar, but he works on the Janet Jackson principle when it comes to remembering people’s names “what have you done for me lately?”

By: Casdok

Casdok — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:58:47 +0000

I lost C recently (thankfully only for a few seconds). I had been to the hairdressers and had a couple of inches off – he had followed someone with longer hair!

By: Tensegrities » Blog Archive » Faceblindness

Tensegrities » Blog Archive » Faceblindness — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:21:11 +0000

[...] An interesting post, with new information about how prosopagnosia might work. [...]