do you have a problem recognizing someone if he changes his appearance?

[alien girl]

happened to me on the bus because my hair was wild, and i couldnt recognize myself in the mirror. when i was a child, my mother tried on a wig, and i didnt know who she was...

 

[Arashi222]

Yes I have that problem but I am also visually impaired so that may have something to do with that. I have had customers who dye their hair and I have no idea its them until they talk to me.

 

[Soup]

YES!!! People look strangely alike to me. When I know someone's looks, my brain tends to associate them with the context I know them from (a colleague, a medical clinic etc.). When I see the person in some other context, or unexpectedly somewhere, I am unlikely to recognize them. When someone changes their looks (hair cut & colour, different style of clothing etc.) I will not recognize them. Sometimes their voice or smell will trigger my memory. All these changes in looks that people undergo are the equivalent of disguises for me. It's like trying to recognize someone who is wearing a costume!

 

[supernova]

I have that problem also. As you can imagine it was particularly difficult when I was a teacher. Also I don't like it when people assume a disguise. To me there's something sinister about "Dame Edna Everidge" and clowns petrify me.

 

[Cuppa' Tea]

This one time, I was at a funeral for my friend's grandmother. As I was leaving the cemetery, I heard my name being called. I turned around and in a car were two of my older relatives, who had known the deceased. Because it was completely out of context and a surprise, I didn't recognize them. They had a laugh later about it, but at first they were shocked that I didn't know them. My mother now will say hi to people at family gatherings and use their name as a subtle way of reminding me who they are.

 

[Judge]

I remember having left a career spanning nearly 20 years....six months later I was in an electronics store and someone called out my name and said "hi".

I had no idea who she was....how awkward. Kept thinking she was a family friend I hadn't seen in years. Turned out she was one of my co-workers I'd worked with for about five years. Guess I was in a hurry to put that job and everyone with it behind me. Yikes...

 

[Aspieistj]

These problems are probably all due to prosopagnosia. Roughly translated from the Greek, this means not knowing a face. Lay people call the condition face blindness. Both terms should come up in a search here because they have previously been discussed. I have the problem quite intensely but can recognize myself in a mirror. Having both prosopagnosia and AS has made my life miserable. Google prosopagnosia for a fair amount of accurate description and explanation. Don't be put of by the strange word. Prosop means face and agnosia relates to an agnostic condition. We hear the term agnostic applied to people who don't know if there is a god. In people with PA--we don't know or recognize faces we have previously encountered. It is a neurological condition in which the area of the brain that stores the memory of what someone's face looks like is damaged.

 

[nowwhat]

Yes here, too. Have virtually no ability to recognize people in a different circumstance that changes their appearance. Just the other day, I saw someone surfing who I use to work with, and completely failed to recognize him.

 

[Aspieistj]

For those of you who have this problem I strongly suggest joining:

[email protected]

This is a group of very open and helpful people with prosopagnosia. They also go off topic and discuss other neurological problems and it is because of this group that I realized I had AS.

 

[Soup]

I have that problem also. As you can imagine it was particularly difficult when I was a teacher. Also I don't like it when people assume a disguise. To me there's something sinister about "Dame Edna Everidge" and clowns petrify me.

I'm a teacher too!

 

[supernova]

I'm a teacher too!

Hi Soup. Do you have problems with facial recognition - not only in school but also when you meet a pupil in the street?