Prosopagnosia and portraits

[fairy_girl]

I not only remember faces, but I see faces where there are no faces. In a pile of rumpled up cloth, in designs on wallpaper, in clouds, the grain in wood and many other places. I see faces and patterns everywhere. Does anyone else do this, or am I just crazy?

Growing up at my house there were these doors that had random wood grains in it. I loved looking at it and seeing different shapes that would change every so often when I looked at them. I used to make it a game when I went to bed, no one else saw the different shapes but myself.

 

[the_tortoise]

@Sabrina do you think it is something about how people's faces are constantly shifting and moving in real life, never allowing you to get a clear still shot?

I have mostly visual memory so I remember faces. Even random ones -- people I don't know and have no reason to remember that I happen to see on the bus or on the street more than once. (I'm not just thinking they look familiar and assuming I must have seen them before -- I can find the memory I recognize them from.)

However, I can't say that I am often looking at people's faces, especially when talking to them, and if I don't look at someone's face then obviously I won't remember it. I also don't remember faces when I'm severely overloaded, because my vision shorts out or sort of goes offline....memories from times of severe overload are literally blurred (like looking at the world through frosted glass, I think I actually unfocus my eyes....) and/or visually fragmented.

@clg114, I do that, too. Lots of people do -- that's the whole deal with cloud-watching, when people see things in the shapes of the clouds.

 

[Crossbreed]

I see faces and patterns everywhere. Does anyone else do this, or am I just crazy?

I see non-specific faces in those things, but rarely people that I would recognize.

When I draw a face without a reference, it looks like a face, if idealized, but never with those slight variations that make each one distinct.

 

[Crossbreed]

...people's faces are constantly shifting and moving in real life, never allowing you to get a clear still shot...?

I do better with still photos (& head sculpts, which I CAN differentiate*), too. That works better for body models, as well. It feels less awkward.

If I was studying a woman to draw her, I would feel quite awkward analyzing [certain parts], in person.

I feel like I can freely be more objective with a photo or a sculpture.

*I still can't draw them from memory, though.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I see faces where there are no faces. In a pile of rumpled up cloth, in designs on wallpaper, in clouds, the grain in wood and many other places. I see faces and patterns everywhere. Does anyone else do this, or am I just crazy?

 

[Sabrina]

, I can't say that I am often looking at people's faces, especially when talking to them,

Me (and most people in this forum, I think) neither, but, since I’m aware of that, I consciously try to pay attention to their faces’ features, naming them. IMO it adds to the issue of prosopagnosia, but I don’t think it’s the cause.

 

[tlc]

View attachment 43523

Yes I do this too. I see faces in some things, but then again I think many things are meant to look human like car front ends. I know seeing faces is innate human nature.

Mostly I see animals and objects in textured wall paint and concrete. My daughter and I used to name the animals she would see in blobs of deep fried donut batter, so it became a game of letting the animals out. Or in other patterns. This light shade in my old room had swirls on it that looked like a scary lion. Still there since at least 1983. Swirly patterns scare me in general. Like those decorative metal plates they would put in the roof gables of old farmhouses. Or old furniture with its swoops. Or figures of suns. Freaks me out bad. Give me something square, plain, modern, at least 80s.

 

[clg114]

I do not look at peoples faces when I talk to them ether. It does not bother me, I just do not do it. I have found that a lot of people think that you are not listening to them if you do not look them in the eyes. So, when I am talking to a customer or my wife, I make sure that I am making eye contact.

 

[the_tortoise]

Me (and most people in this forum, I think) neither, but, since I’m aware of that, I consciously try to pay attention to their faces’ features, naming them. IMO it adds to the issue of prosopagnosia, but I don’t think it’s the cause.

I don't have believe I experience prosopagnosia but I would agree that not looking at people doesn't cause it -- my understanding is that a person with prosopagnosia could study people's faces constantly and still be unable to remember/recognize them.

I do not look at peoples faces when I talk to them ether. It does not bother me, I just do not do it. I have found that a lot of people think that you are not listening to them if you do not look them in the eyes. So, when I am talking to a customer or my wife, I make sure that I am making eye contact.

I find it very challenging to look at people and listen to them at the same time.....I can better process what people say if I'm not looking at anything at all.

 

[tlc]

I find it very challenging to look at people and listen to them at the same time.....I can better process what people say if I'm not looking at anything at all.

Yes exactly otherwise it's like overload. Also it just doesn't seem to make sense in my head to look at them. If I look at them for any length of time any other time, it'd be considered staring and intimidating.

 

[Progster]

Yes, I have mild prosopagnosia - I recognise people by their hair, by context (where I see them or expect to find them), or sometimes even by the car they drive.