Unable to visualise/remember faces

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I'm curious whether anyone else has trouble with this, and if it's a typical ASD trait or occurs in the general population.

I've always had problems remembering people's faces. It's not typical face blindness because if I saw a friend or relative out and about I would instantly know who they were. It's more that I can't visualise anyone's face, not even my mother's. I simply can't do it. So I don't remember how their features look until I see them again.

The only way I can sometimes do it is if I have a photo of the person and can visualise that but it doesn't last very long and then I've forgotten again.

Anyone else have this?

I have the most trouble remembering people usually in uniform while they are out of uniform.

Highlights
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Demonstrates links between aphantasia (imagery weakness), synaesthesia and autism.

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Aphantasics show elevated autism-linked traits.

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Aphantasia and autism linked by impaired imagination and social skills.

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Aphantasia (low imagery) can arise in synaesthesia (usually linked to high imagery).

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Aphantasic synaesthetes have more ‘associator’ than ‘projector’ traits.


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 0021000131

I cannot visualize anything. Not faces, things, places. My mind is essentially black.

I used to think everyone was like this. I used to think that when people visualized something or saw something in their mind’s eye, that it was metaphor for remembering or thinking about.

Now I know differently and sometimes I mourn my lack of inner sightedness.

^I have total aphantasia. I've done several surveys about it. I was like you in thinking everyone was like me. I worked out they couldn't be while doing a guided imagery class for anxiety in 2005. It did nothing for me, but others were saying it helped. That made me think 'they can't all be like me then' and wouldn't guided imagery have been dropped due to being ineffective if everyone was like me. Quite a few years later I saw an article that gave a name,aphantasia, to it.

I do not do eye to eye contact with individuals. It is common for me to not tell people apart. I am more aware of who they are by their location. For example where they are located in school, work, home, community. But if I run into someone way out of place (physical location), I may not be able to automatically figure out who they are.

Thanks everyone. Limited energy so can't respond individually, but the posts and link are very interesting. I have no issues with recognising people as I can do it even after not seeing a person for over a decade. I just can't visualise what the person looks like. Any people. I can sometimes recall parts of their face, like the fact they had a wart and where, but not the entire face. I'm bad at visualising generally, but I can a photo so maybe 2D is easier.

Its a contextual thing for me - if I see someone where I am not expecting them to be, such as a work colleague in the supermarket I struggle to recognise them.

People I am very close to, partner, daughters etc - there faces are imprinted on my brain so the above doesnt apply to them.

I can't really remember people's faces, like OP is describing, either.

I have aphantasia. Also look up Prosopagnosia, a neurological phenomenon which causes people not to be able to recognize faces, sometimes even their own. I have that too. Very difficult to explain why I did not recognize somebody I have known or interacted with for some time. I find people tend to be forgiving of this though.

This is a very interesting topic. I'm wondering, for those of you that cannot visualise or recognise faces, do you have dreams in which people appear that you recognise, or do you not have dreams about people you know? Almost all of my dreams are about places/people I recognise, so am just curious what your dreams are like?

Mine is more about recalling faces that prevents recognizing properly than processes related to visualizing.


I don't recall well in exhaustion, overwhelm, stress and shutdowns.

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Yes they are related. One of the many traits I have but didn't realize was related to ASD until recently.