Trouble connecting faces <-> who - Prosopagnosia or fragm...

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222Vera
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09 Feb 2015, 6:17 pm

Hi!
I have (like many others here) trouble connecting faces to who they are. I see their faces loud and clear, and I know I have seen them before. But unless I know them well, or see them on a regular basis, I have no clue if it is a mother in the kindergarden, a former class mate / neighbour, someone who works in a shop I use, or maybe I even just saw them on TV.

Is this Prosopagnosia? I DO see their faces - clear. And I know I have seen them before. I just cannot connect them to who they are (I love Facebook, btw!). Could it be related to fragmented perception? That I cannot see the whole picture? Or something else? I have looked up Prosopagnosia, but it seems like the ones suffering from this cannot see the faces?

It would be great to have a name for it, so it would be easier to explain to people who says hello to me, and I look like a huge "?" :) They might think I have no interest in them. But I honestly can't help it. Not easy to explain to them when I don't know what it is myself...



QuiversWhiskers
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09 Feb 2015, 8:46 pm

I'd call it forgetfulness. I do it too. Sometimes I don't recognize people that I should recognize, but I don't think it's prosopagnosia. It's just "out of sight, out of mind". I have a short memory for people and faces nowadays. Didn't used to when I was a kid. Sometimes I wonder who I might have accidentally ignored or "looked right through" without realizing it. I know I do it because I do it on FB a lot too.



rugulach
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10 Feb 2015, 1:00 pm

222Vera wrote:
Hi!
I have (like many others here) trouble connecting faces to who they are. I see their faces loud and clear, and I know I have seen them before. But unless I know them well, or see them on a regular basis, I have no clue if it is a mother in the kindergarden, a former class mate / neighbour, someone who works in a shop I use, or maybe I even just saw them on TV.

Is this Prosopagnosia? I DO see their faces - clear. And I know I have seen them before. I just cannot connect them to who they are (I love Facebook, btw!). Could it be related to fragmented perception? That I cannot see the whole picture? Or something else? I have looked up Prosopagnosia, but it seems like the ones suffering from this cannot see the faces?

It would be great to have a name for it, so it would be easier to explain to people who says hello to me, and I look like a huge "?" :) They might think I have no interest in them. But I honestly can't help it. Not easy to explain to them when I don't know what it is myself...


I have this very same thing too. From what I've read, it doesn't seem to be Prosopagnosia. Like you, would love to know more about this condition. Does it have a name?



Kiriae
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10 Feb 2015, 6:31 pm

I am the same.
I was always calling it prosopagnosia. I seem to lack "face library" in my memory. I can see faces (every detail is clear) and I can even realize I have seen the face before but I can't connect the face I see to a person I know and when I try to recall someone face in my mind I either get a randomly generated face or a shapeless fog surrounded by hairstyle, glasses, mustache etc. To remember my teachers I was always drawing a detailed caricature of them in my notebook and then, before each lesson I was checking which teacher I am going to see next because otherwise I wouldn't know which teacher teaches what subject.

As far as I know prosopagnosia is not a eyesight deficit but a memory deficit. People with prosopagnosia see every detail of the face they see just as they see everything else but they can't remember the face as a whole when they try to recall it later. They can also recognize a face in unconscious, emotional level but they have trouble recognizing who the person is.

But I also wonder what I have "in addition to prosopagnosia" because prosopagnosia itself won't describe my condition. I can't recall people faces but I also can't recall names or any info about people unless it is something really interesting/important. For example I can remember I talked about something and I can repeat the whole discussion sentence-by-sentence but I won't remember who I talked with.

When I was in elementary school I couldn't tell what was the name of a kid that was sitting next to me for a whole year... or even if it was a boy or a girl...



222Vera
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11 Feb 2015, 3:52 pm

Thank you for your replies :)
It is so awkward... When I meet someone that asks me how its going. Should I say what I did last week, or should I say that I got married and got 3 kids? If it is someone I know from my son's school, they would definitively think I'm nuts :D



Kiriae
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11 Feb 2015, 4:45 pm

222Vera wrote:
Thank you for your replies :)
When I meet someone that asks me how its going. Should I say...

"How its going?" is the same kind of question as "How are you?" - something like "I'm fine, you?" is enough for an answer. People ask this question to have a pretext to talk about themselves anyway so all you have to do is returning the question to them.



222Vera
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11 Feb 2015, 5:17 pm

Smart, thank you. I think I "over think" questions I get. Afraid to give the wrong answer :)
I already learned to call people "you" instead of names (that I do not remember anyway)



nca14
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12 Feb 2015, 3:53 am

I do not think that I have (at least more significant) problems with recognising faces or people. I think that I am rather good in recognising people.