genetic basis of face recognition

[wispfox]

Any of y'all face blind? Do other members of your family also have trouble with face recognition?

I ask because one of the better known face blindness research teams is, as always, looking for more people with face blindness, _especially_ if multiple members of a family all have it.

So, go fill out their contact form if you're face blind/prospagnosic, especially if others of your family are, too. (it is very likely that the more severe the congenital face blindness, the less likely one is to realize that it's missing. Finding out I had it caused me to ask my mom if she did. She did, but did not realize it)

Comments

[regyt.livejournal.com]

I tend to have a lot more trouble recognizing and remembering faces than most people I know, but once I really know someone I can in fact remember and recognize their face, so, not really, but it's certainly not as easy as it seems to be for others.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Once I know someone well enough, I can usually recognize them (I recognize family and close friends). But it's slower than for most people, & works poorly in crowds.

Also? The fact that you say it requires _really_ knowing someone to recognize them would say to me that you are somewhat face blind.

There are, as with all (?) neurologic things, degrees of variation.

[regyt.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I didn't know if it was a spectrum or something that was all-or-nothing.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

From the link:

"Prosopagnosics often have difficulty recognizing people that they have encountered many times. In extreme cases, prosopagnosics have trouble recognizing even those people that they spend the most time with such as their spouses and their children."

One of the telltale signs of prosopagnosia is great reliance on non-facial information such as hair, gait, clothing, voice, and other information. Prosopagnosics also sometimes have difficulty imagining the facial appearance of acquaintances. One of the most common complaints of prosopagnosics is that they have trouble following the plot of television shows and movies, because they cannot keep track of the identity of the characters."

It's the extreme cases that cannot recognize _anyone_. :)

I... can't easily think of any neurologic condition which is not a spectrum. There may be some, but generally I would expect spectrums.

[fourgates.livejournal.com]

Does it help you at all if I use the icon with my face? I sorta assume that your memory of me fades some with time in any case.

I'm pretty good with face recognition, but not so good with connecting faces with identities. The point about not following TV plots is interesting. I have trouble with some book plots (Jane Austin = impossible) because (I have assumed) there isn't anything visual to hang the identity info on.

[conuly]

I'm not exactly faceblind, but I do say I'm "face visually impaired". I have my moments. (Like the now-infamous time I didn't recognize my own niece and brother-in-law, and I saw them at least once a week!)

But forget faces. What I actually do have trouble with are places. Turn me around, and it looks like I'm somewhere new. That makes life hard.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I believe jodawi is. Should I pass him a link?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

My memory of people is not face-based. At all. Pictures are not _quite_ useless to me (I like having them of sweeties), but damn close.

Memory fading with lack of interaction, yes. Especially if I did not know the person very well to begin with.

book plots with nothing visual: interesting; if books have too much visual reliance, I get bored, as I can largely not visualize anything.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I think that face impaired would count, for the study in question. :) Especially with that example! :)

Places: I get that, although I have that less than you based on your desc.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Please!

[conuly]

To be totally fair, that one time with my family stands out because even for me, it was so weird. I usually can expect to recognize my own family, especially when (as happened here) I go up to them to comment on how "my niece has that same outfit". But it happens to a lesser degree all the time.

Directions, now. Sheesh. I once got lost directly across the street from my house, and that experience is not "just so weird".