Do you have face blindness?

[Kazimiera]

Thank GOD I dont have it. Very difficult situation.

Let's just say it's inconvenient but you figure out who the person is by deduction.

I was in a queue at the supermarket when the woman behind me started talking to me as if she knew me. I figured, okay, she knows me so I must know her. Do I know her from work? Then she asked how my husband is and referred to him by name. I figured, she can't be from work because nobody from work knows my husband so she must know and my husband from somewhere where we go together. Work was eliminated. I thought, "Where do my husband and I go together where someone would know both of us?" After a process of elimination I came to the conclusion that she must be from the coffee shop my husband and I go for coffee regularly. There is nowhere else anyone could know us both from.

Then she asked me whether my husband and I would attend the party. I remembered him saying a few days before that the staff from the coffee shop were going to have a little get-together and he was invited. Bingo! Now I had confirmation that she was from the coffee shop.

Fortunately the next time I went to the coffee shop hubby was with me to point out that she is a waitress there. When I go to the coffee shop now and see her, I know her. If we met again at a different location I wouldn't recognise her and I'd have to do the whole elimination process all over again!

[Phenix]

I have a good memory but I erase every unimportant face from it.
Can lead to uncomfortable moments sometime, but that's a little price to pay for tranquility.

[Thorns]

Interesting.

I recall one night many years ago when I saw some children with no faces. I mean, there was nothing there. It honestly scared me a bit. It was at night time and they were behind a store. The setting is a bit difficult to describe without going into great detail. It was really eerie, especially because the other person I was with saw the same thing (no faces).

I suppose I could have approached them and satisfied the weirdness but for some reason I wanted to stay as far away from them as possible.

I can't imagine having the condition the OP is talking about.

[Benyzero]

It's interesting because the human brain is developed to recognise faces, probably it is like the name memory , some people have trouble to remember names. I had this experience, not sure when but someone was very familiar but I couldn't recall where we met before, probably you need some kind of other information ,a closer contact , not just a moment of hi ,hello

[Daugakrit]

Never felt like I would have something like this, sometimes quite the opposite. I have read about mental disorders that are described very similarly though, have you researched this in academic literature?

[Kazimiera]

Never felt like I would have something like this, sometimes quite the opposite. I have read about mental disorders that are described very similarly though, have you researched this in academic literature?

Not intensively, but I found this:

Information About Prosopagnosia

What is prosopagnosia?

Prosopagnosia (also known as 'face blindness') refers to a severe deficit in recognizing familiar people from their face. While some people report a very selective impairment that only influences the recognition of faces, others find the deficit extends to the recognition of other stimuli, such as objects, cars, or animals. Many people also report deficits in other aspects of face processing, such as judging age or gender, recognising certain emotional expressions, or following the direction of a person's eye gaze. Finally, a substantial number of people also report navigational difficulties.

How does prosopagnosia affect a person's life?

Some people cope well with their face recognition difficulties, and even develop elaborate compensatory mechanisms to help them function effectively in everyday life. For others, however, the condition has a much greater impact on daily functioning. Some people avoid social interactions, experience problems with interpersonal relationships or damage to their career, and even report episodes of depression. In extreme cases, people with prosopagnosia develop social anxiety disorder, characterized by fear and avoidance of social situations that may cause embarrassment. You can read a first hand account of prosopagnosia here.
What are the causes of prosopagnosia?

What is prosopagnosia?

Until recently, it was thought that very few people experience prosopagnosia. The condition has traditionally been studied in individuals who acquire the disorder following neurological damage (typically from stroke or head injury), and a handful of case studies were reported in the literature in the 20th century. However, it has recently become clear that many more people have prosopagnosia without experiencing neurological damage. This form of the disorder is commonly referred to as "developmental" or "congenital" prosopagnosia, and these people simply fail to develop normal face processing abilities despite normal intellectual and perceptual functions. People with developmental prosopagnosia seem to have had face recognition difficulties for most of their lives, and perhaps even since birth. Recent evidence suggests there may be a genetic contribution to the condition, and many people report at least one first-degree relative who also experiences face recognition difficulties.

How many people are affected by prosopagnosia?

As explained above, acquired prosopagnosia following brain damage is rare. However, developmental prosopagnosia appears to be much more common. In recent years, a flurry of media attention has raised awareness of the disorder, and thousands of people who believe they have prosopagnosia have approached researchers throughout the world. However, little work has resulted in a formal estimate of the prevalence of developmental prosopagnosia. One study conducted in Germany surveyed the face recognition abilities of a large group of students, and reported a prevalence rate of 2-2.5%. A similar figure was obtained in objective screening of a large group of adults, and in a large-scale study of primary school children conducted by my laboratory. Although this prevalence rate from simply result from the calibration of the tests that were used, it does indicate that as many as one in 50 people may have the condition. If this figure is correct, there may be 1.5 million people with developmental prosopagnosia in the UK alone. Even if this is an overestimation, a prevalence of just 1% would indicate that 600 000 people have the disorder.

I've heard that prosopagnosia may be linked to autism spectrum disorder - is this true?

It is true that many people with autism spectrum disorder also experience face recognition difficulties. Problems with face-processing have also been reported in other developmental disorders such as Williams' syndrome and Turner's syndrome. There are various theories concerned with this pattern of presentation, and some researchers believe that the face recognition impairment can be attributed to a lack of social interest in faces, and others that perceptual-processing strategy or impaired visuo-spatial skills may be the critical factor. However, while some individuals with prosopagnosia report severe social consequences resulting from their face recognition difficulties, these are not necessarily an indicator of a concurrent neuro-developmental disorder. On the contrary, there have been reports of misdiagnosis of high-functioning autism when the underlying issue is prosopagnosia alone. Importantly, many people with developmental prosopagnosia do not fulfil the diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorder, confirming the independence of the two disorders.

How do I know if I have prosopagnosia?

Many people occasionally fail to recognise a familiar face, or even mistake an unknown person for someone they know. However, individuals with prosopagnosia have a severe face recognition problem, affecting even the most familiar faces, such as their spouse or children. This failure to recognise familiar faces occurs every day, but many people have developed compensatory strategies to help with person recognition. For example, they might recognise a person by their hairstyle, clothing or gait, or simply because they expect to see a person within a given context. However, if they unexpectedly encounter a familiar person, these compensatory strategies often break down. Some researchers advocate the use of self-report measures to diagnose prosopagnosia, but much research indicates that many people have limited insight into their face recognition skills, particularly if they have no point of comparison (i.e. they have experienced face recognition difficulties for their entire life). In all cases, proper objective testing is required to make a diagnosis. If you believe you may have prosopagnosia and live within travelling distance of Bournemouth University, we may be able to offer you a formal testing session and the opportunity to take part in our research if you wish to. You can register your details with us here.

Is there any treatment for prosopagnosia?

There is currently no formal treatment for prosopagnosia. However, our laboratory has recently published some attempts to remedy face recognition difficulties, either through the use of training programmes or temporary pharmaceutical intervention. While we have had some success, these techniques are still being investigated and developed. If you believe you have prosopagnosia and would like to take part in some research investigating intervention techniques, please register here. If you live close to our laboratory in Bournemouth and don't mind travelling to us (travel expenses can normally be reimbursed), we will do our best to accommodate you within our current research programmes. However, we also have collaborators in other parts of the UK, Australia and America, and may be able to put you in touch with a researcher who is based closer to your home.

Are there any techniques I can use to get round my difficulty with faces?

Many people with prosopagnosia report compensatory strategies that can often help them circumvent their difficulties. For instance, teachers have described how they use classroom seating plans to identify their pupils, or even recognize different children by an external cue, such as their backpacks. Other elaborate compensatory strategies have been described, such as the use of jewellery, clothing, voice or gait to recognize a familiar person. Of course these strategies do not always work, and particularly break down when a person is met out of context and logic cannot be combined with these external cues. If you would like to read more about the various strategies that people have found to be useful cues to recognition, why not check out and even contribute to our Discussion Forum on this topic.

It is neurological disorder. I haven't had neurological problems which could cause it. It's always been that way. If I see someone often enough, I'm okay. Some faces also stick with me for life. Others melt together. For me some people have very forgetful faces.

Mine is not terrible in any sense. It causes some embarrassing situations but that's about it. There are people who have it much, much worse than I do.

[Mark]

I have face blindness, and unless the person has some very pronounced features which I can recall, they all look very similar to me, so similar that I wouldn't recognise them if they stood next to me.

If I was at a bus stop in western cape, I bet you would recognize me because of my overly pronounced facial features that might be somewhat alien to the conventional faces you are used to seeing among whites; e.g. Dutch, German, UK, etc.

[Kazimiera]

If I was at a bus stop in western cape, I bet you would recognize me because of my overly pronounced facial features that might be somewhat alien to the conventional faces you are used to seeing among whites; e.g. Dutch, German, UK, etc.

Not necessarily because there are many Portuguese and dark haired, olive skinned people too. If I knew you were coming and you showed me a picture which I can review, then I'd recognise you straight away. Otherwise you might just look familiar and I won't be able to place a finger on it.

[CrazyDaisy]

I think I used to have a mild case, but going to anthroforums cured it.

[Skjaldemjøden]

Weird.
I've been approached twice before by people I absolutely couldn't recognize. Both were in the same grade as me in high school and knew my name, but I'm positively certain I've never seen them. I have a pretty good memory for faces - I would recognize these two strangers anywhere now. Names are a different story.