[brains] face recognition, separation, continued thoughts

[wispfox]

It appears that beards seriously screw with my ability to differentiate people from others with beards, and with my ability to recognize those that I have developed some ability to recognize _in_ context, when they are no longer in that context. It also seems to make it far more difficult for me to read a person.

Excepting people who grew beards after I was close to them, I can't think of anyone I'm very close to who has a beard. And even in the 'grew it later' category, I don't think I'm _still_ amazingly close to anyone who did that - but then, I can only think of a single case, and there are other possible reasons for that.

Annoys me that this is true, since it annoys me that there's a category of people who I apparently will not get close to based on something as trivial as a type of facial hair. But... I don't think this has ever not been true, and may be a large part of my dislike of such things.

This was sparked by a reminder of the fact that I was _completely_ unable to figure out _why_ someone knew me (and who I was pretty sure that I knew, as well) a few weekends ago, when I saw them out of context. Felt really bad about it, too! On the plus side, for once him saying his name _did_ help... (since I'm also bad with proper nouns)

Comments

[hawkegirl.livejournal.com]

It's totally about what you are use to.

I would never go as far as to say "all asians look alike" but they seemed awfully similar to me until I lived there. Now it seems absurd to me that someone can't just tell the difference between someone from Okinawa and Southern Nippon.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

It's totally about what you are used to.

... Actually, in this case, it's not. I work in Open Source, and have been involved with it for about 5-6 years. There are a _lot_ of bearded people in Open Source.

I think it might be due to my vague semblance of face blind-like symptoms, actually.

[hawkegirl.livejournal.com]

Hrm. Interesting.

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

Sucks for people with beards! I have the same problem with reading people with beards and tend to shy away from them but it's nothing to do with the inability to recognise.

Good luck with this : o

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Sucks for people with beards!

I know. And that's part of why it annoys me!

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

I hope that a way to make it not-so-pthbt comes to you in a dream or something. : /

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

It'd be nice, but I rather suspect not. I shall just have to accept that fact, and try to not let it affect my interactions with bearded people _too_ strongly. I mean, I _can_ identify bearded people with enough interaction with them, but the interaction requirement is higher, and it's still more difficult for me to identify them out of context.

*shrug* Could be worse.

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

Everything could be worse. *wrinkles nose*

*flowers*

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Everything could be worse. *wrinkles nose*

True!

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

*flowers*

*quizzical look*

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. :)

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

sorta like *hug* only with uhm.. flowers instead? ; )

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. I think I would do *gives flowers* or *offers flowers* or *showers with flower*

Flowers just isn't a verb. :)

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to stick with *flowers*

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Out of curiotisy, how did you find my journal? I know you've not friended it, but still curious. :)

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

Friendsfriend list ^.^

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

Incase you don't know about the friends of friends list, instead of /users/blah/friends you go /user/blah/friendsfriends and it shows you all of the recent posts by everyone on your friend's lists. ^.^

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I do know about it, yes. Makes sense, that does. :)

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I *think* it's a paid account feature but I'm not sure. Anyway, it's great for sleepless days/nights when you're not home *cough*

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Not sure, either - I don't remember if I ever felt the desire to use it when I didn't have a paid account...

(not as if I really need to go looking for more people to read, since my friends list is insane...)

[secondhandwhore.livejournal.com]

heh.. Yeah. I skip over most of my friend's page.. there's a lot of people I want to add but I feel like I'd be short changing them.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Beards definitely physically make identification more difficult, both because they are changeable (ie, you can't depend on them as an identifying feature) and because they cover up other facial features that might potentially be useful for identification.

My dad and sister both also pretty much think all people with certain characteristics look alike -- my sister pretty much has to double-check to make sure that slender women with light-colored hair past their shoulders aren't me. So perhaps beards are a characteristic like that for you?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

they cover up other facial features that might potentially be useful for identification.

Yes. They do.

I don't know if you've noticed, but I watch people's mouths almost as often as I watch their eyes.

So perhaps beards are a characteristic like that for you?

Very possible. :)

And, actually, to a degree, I think I have a similar problem to your dad and sister for that specific trait combination.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

*tongue in cheek* I must pout now. ;)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*laugh* Well, how many times have I run into you and had no idea who you were?

(And hey, minimalist beards do help - it's the ones where I can't see part of a person's face that I have _really_ major problems)

[eisa.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the wonderful world of prosopagnosia.
If it helps, I find myself unfairly discriminating against people with short hair. Long haired people are much easier for me to recognize, and also much more attractive to me.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I find myself unfairly discriminating against people with short hair.

That seems to be a fairly common one, from what I can tell.

I _prefer_ longer hair, but it doesn't seem to screw with my ability to recognize or be attracted to people. (which is good, since I have this strange tandency to date people with short hair, lately!)