Face Blindess: Why Some People Don't Always Recognize You (VIDEO)

In 1985, Columbia Professor and acclaimed neurologist Oliver Sacks, M.D., wrote "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat." In the book, Dr. Sacks recounted case histories of patients that were unable to or struggled with identifying a person's face -- in one case, a man could not recognize his wife's face from a hat.

This phenomenon is called prosopagnosia, or more commonly "face blindness," a disorder that may be inherited by about 2.5 percent of the population, according to a study on face recognition.

"Being social beings we need to recognize each other, and we do so in all sorts of ways, by the way people move, by the way they dress, their voices, where they are, but in particular we are very good at recognizing each others faces," Sacks said recently in a video he recorded on the disorder.

Sacks described a face recognition spectrum, in which 80 percent of the population is "face normal." Those who fall low on the spectrum have trouble recognizing faces and those high on the spectrum he refers to as "super recognizers."

WATCH:

Comments

[honorah131]

12:58 PM on 12/12/2010

My husband has what we jokingly refer to as blonde-blindness. He can't seem to distinguish blonde women from each other. When he used to go social dancing, he could not recognize the blondes he regularly danced with, and had to keep notes to help keep himself out of trouble. He thinks every blonde actress is Meg Ryan. It may explain why he married his first wife -- she was blonde, and he obviously mistook her for someone else.

[jdevans]

11:39 AM on 12/12/2010

I can be outside of work and look right past someone from work without seeing them. Its not until they stop and talk with me that I recognize them. On the other end of the scale, there's a guy I worked with 10 years ago and hadn't seen since who recognized me in a restaurant.

[BlackYowe]

12:24 AM on 12/11/2010

My Dad had this problem and I do to some extent It's sometimes very frightening and discouraging because people think you just don't care.

[Isabella Conord]

12:33 AM on 12/09/2010

Great article! I had no clue such a condition even existed. I will be less "angry" when a friend does not recognize me in the future!!!

[ginny1920]

11:19 AM on 12/09/2010

This is really a fascinating subject. If you want to learn alot more about it firsthand from a man who lives with the condition, check out this website:
http://www.choisser.com/faceblind/

[dugmaze]

12:25 AM on 12/09/2010

I have this and I had no idea it was a named condition. I would say I'm on the mild side, definitely not severe.

Unless I'm fairly close to the person, all I recognize is light or dark hair. One time my wife pinned up her long dark hair and put on a short blonde wig for Halloween. I've been screwed up ever since. This happened years ago and we was just arguing about it the other day.

I've always been scared that I would have to describe someone for the police. They would think I was protecting the criminal by giving them a stick figure drawing.

I also think that's why I liked the eighties hairstyle. I can see big dark hair but this new short style all looks the same to me.

One thing I've learned over the years is if I have deja vu, then I probably know the person.

Thanks for posting this article.

[ginny1920]

11:19 AM on 12/09/2010

Check out this website:
http://www.choisser.com/faceblind/

[dugmaze]

11:51 PM on 12/09/2010

Thanks

[Hookedonfashion]

10:43 PM on 12/08/2010

I must be a super recognizer. Unfortunately, I can't remember names.

[Sunflo]

08:43 AM on 12/09/2010

Same here.

[James Napoli]

09:59 PM on 12/08/2010

Public radio's "The Story" did an excellent in-depth interview with a woman who has face blindness. I recommend checking it out.

[Susan Shaffer]

07:14 PM on 12/08/2010

i think that we look for patterns.
i have had an indian tell me i look exactly like someone he knows. i saw the photo and could see no resemblence.
I think within your race you are probably better at distinguishing people than if you had to identify someone within a group of people of another race.
i think there was a group photo taken of korean students except they were all the same face photoshopped onto bodies. you were asked what was unusual about the picture

[onionboy]

04:17 PM on 12/08/2010

I'm very bad with faces, but excellent with body language. If I've met you once or twice, I can recognize you walking from a thousand feet out. I've been this way since I was a kid. I've always thought this would make me a very good sniper, were I so inclined...which I am not.

[ginny1920]

11:22 AM on 12/09/2010

I also learned to recognize people from a distance by their gait and their usual style of dress. I am legally blind without my glasses/contacts, and for a couple years in jr-high/high school, I didn't have any glasses/contacts. So I had to compensate!

[onionboy]

11:40 AM on 12/09/2010

Hadn't thought of the vision angle. I too have bad eyesight, so maybe I compensated when I was younger. Thanks for the food for thought.

If you have the insurance and money to save, and you're medically eligible, I'll give my plug for lasix. I got it about 8 years ago and it changed my life. I'm sure it's paid for itself by now (between glasses, contacts, solution, etc.). It's not only the convenience, but no lens ever got my vision as sharp as I have now. I had no idea vision could be so sharp. And don't get me started on peripheral vision. I didn't even know it existed.

[snorrk]

02:20 PM on 12/08/2010

I have only one question about Oliver Sacks and his video. Why is a hat talking?

[ml 82]

02:14 PM on 12/08/2010

I always recognize all those who don't recognize me, which leads to a lot of awkward moments!

[Robert Nix]

01:58 PM on 12/08/2010

What I want to know is which one did he try to put on his head?

[Conservative Charlie]

01:56 PM on 12/08/2010

I have face blindness at least to a degree, as does my daughter. I have looked at photos of my wife and children and have not recognized them. When I see the background and recognize that the photo was from one of our houses I then realize who is in the photo. If I see a person in a setting where I have not seen them before it is often quite difficult to know who they are.

[KGrr]

04:55 PM on 12/08/2010

Hi Charlie! Researchers at the University of Minnesota are looking to find out more about prosopagnosia in children. The lab that is doing the research is called the Yonas Visual Perception Lab and they have contact info on their website if you're interested in talking with them.

[Conservative Charlie]

12:53 PM on 12/12/2010

Thank you

[HeevenSteven]

01:48 PM on 12/08/2010

Republicans can't recognize science.

[aintmisbehavin]

01:13 PM on 12/08/2010

I find that I recognize other people in people.

[irisheys]

02:01 PM on 12/08/2010

Same here - I guess I see patterns about appearances and new people are always reminding me of someone I already know.

[KGrr]

05:00 PM on 12/08/2010

There is a condition called palinopsia that sounds similar to what you said you experience; in the case of faces, people superimpose one face onto a different person. Palinopsia can occur for many types of visual stimuli, and it's been reported for faces a number of times. Apparently there is a woman who viewed a poodle and then saw the poodle's face on people she encountered shortly after that- it didn't last long though.