Close Encounters of an Unfamiliar Kind
Reading Gene Weingarten's column in the Washington Post Magazine Sunday, I saw myself in the proverbial mirror—and I almost didn't recognize the face staring back.
In "Losing Face," Weingarten shares his self-diagnosis of mild prosopagnosia: "I have trouble recognizing and remembering faces," he writes. I long ago came to the conclusion that I, too, have this condition. I've never asked a doctor about it, but many a friend has been dumbfounded by my inability to recognize a given actor from one movie to the next. And more than a few acquaintances have been perplexed or offended when I've failed to recall their name on a second—or third, or fourth—meeting.
In my case, it's not just a matter of having trouble recalling a person's name—though I certainly struggle with that. It's that I often can't connect a face with any of the mental data I instantly should be able to associate with it: the name, the circumstances of our acquaintance, the sound of his or her voice, and so on. It's as if I have a large database in my head that contains all these things except a visual map of the face. (Curiously, I'm sometimes more able to identify a person when I answer the phone and hear the voice than I am during an unexpected face-to-face encounter. When I run into someone I don't recognize, the name occasionally comes back to me when the person starts speaking.)
This may sound like a trivial or even amusing idiosyncrasy. But it has real social repercussions. It's not uncommon for me to reintroduce myself to someone with whom I've previously had one or more extended conversations. Weingarten nicely captures how embarrassing that can be.
I'm curious to know more about this condition and what, if anything, a person with a mild form of it can do to enhance face recall. Does anyone out there know how common prosopagnosia is or how broad a spectrum of symptoms it can have? Are there mental exercises that are effective in managing it?
I'm also interested in hearing readers' personal experiences with face-recognition problems.
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Face Blind
My worse fear when I got divorced was that I would not have my wife to hang on to asking "who's that?" all the time. If I saw my wife (or see my girlfriend) in an unexpected area, I would not recognize her. But voices? I tag those in a heartbeat. Until now, I never knew that I have a "condition."
Prosopagnosia
There are a number of places to find out more about Prosopagnosia. There is also an organization whose purpose it is to help schools identify children with Prosopagnosia called Find a Face Organization. (www.findaface.org). 2 in 100 otherwise average people have this condition. Most of us take a long time to come to the realization that we are not quite like other folks, when it comes to face recognition. To find out about others visit www.findaface.org/Links.
prosopagnosia
OK. Each of us has a cross to bear. Please shut up.
Prosopagnosia
First, to Mark in Poland: Obviously this is not a problem for you, so instead of being (extremely) rude, please go read something else.
I have had this problem for as long as I can remember - I thought it was brain damage from a fractured skull. My husband gets totally annoyed with me and says I don't pay attention, other people think I'm being "stuck up" when I don't speak to them. It was an extreme problem when I was teaching school with 25+ kids in each class, plus all of their parents.
Captain Kirk?
Thank you all for sharing your stories. I just took the "Famous Faces Test" (it's available through the website Jo mentioned above), and I got only 59 percent right. The average person gets 85 percent, according to the site. That sure sounds like an "F" to me. I even mistook Richard Nixon for an actor in Star Trek!
prosopagnosia
I'm a swim teacher and I've always had proplems remembering the children's names. I always thought the problem was with names, not faces. I am still terrible but after two and a half years I can see an improvement. I also try to remember the colour of the children's bathing costums or goggles. It is still a battle though especially if the children look similar.
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prosopagnosia
For more information try www.faceblind.org (the website of the Harvard and UCL Prosopagnosia Centres) and have a look at faceblind@yahoogroups.com.
I'm face blind - I didn't find out that it was a neurological condition (rather than a social defect) until I was sixty. Now I'm making up for lost time!
Mar 18, 2008 16:55:24 PM [permalink] [report comment]