More On [Face-Blindness]...

[Crossbreed]

I have what appears to be a mild form of prosopagnosia. I do not always recognize local people in different settings. Other times, I know that I have met them before but cannot remember where.

For me, face-blindness seems to be one of those hypo-/hyper-sensory "features" of autism. I readily recognize celebrities on TV. Recently, I recognized a young child actor (Barry Gordon) who I had only previously seen as an adult. Another actor was wearing a police helmet & sunglasses and I correctly identified (David Soul) just by his mouth...!

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Oh yes! For me every time I see someone I kind of get surprised like "Oh wow, that's what they look like!?" But I don't tell the person. I don't want them to think I don't care. Because I do care. I just have trouble remembering faces.

Eventually though, I get used to them and memorize their face. But it does often take a while.

 

[UFO]

I do have had moments when I have been in a lecture, I have seen the lecturer only once or twice before, left the classroom, remembered that I should ask something, and returned to meet the lecturer at the corridor, and I have had to ask "were you X who were just lecturing about Y?" simply because I wasn't sure - only the bald head and water bottle he was carrying gave me a hint that this random looking guy might be him. I have also thought that some random person was an old family friend that I haven't seen for a couple of years - embarrassing situation as I went as far as saying "Hi! How are you doing?".

However, as a movie fan I do tend to recognize actors, no matter how thick layer of rubber mask they are wearing. It could be a shape of their mouth or eyes, or just gestures and a form of physical presence, which tips me off. Though, Colin Farrell as The Penguin has remained unrecognizable to me, but I can't recall any other examples for now.

Probably has something to do with how interesting I find people to be. And that it is easier to observe (make an eye contact...) an image of person than a live person. And that camera frames the visual information to only the essential details, making it easier to pay attention to things like the structure of a face, rather than to the dandruff on their shoulders.