Face Blindness: Understanding Prosopagnosia and its effects

Dr. Mandira N. Mehra joins FOX 29 to discuss the condition that impacts 1 in 50 people.

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[mrknucklehead]

I am autistic and have face blindness and auditory processing problems. The male news anchor is a little irritating. I wasn’t aware of any problems but I was diagnosed early as a child with Asperger syndrome because I didn’t communicate. I didn’t realize I was face blind until later in life when given a visual memory test. To describe it more accurately, someone like myself identifies people more like a dog would. (There are many similarities in autistic traits and animal behavior) Your pet knows your voice, smell, habits and I unconsciously identify patterns to recognize people. It becomes a problem when a person is not familiar to me and they pop up in unexpected places. If I see my neighbor mowing his yard, my brain always knows him. But if I see my neighbor at the movie theater, I need more clues to recognize him. If he’s with someone, or wearing something familiar; but fastest is if he speaks to me.

[saoirseokeeffe]

Im almost 27 and only just learnt about this. I very clearly have it. My mum dyed her hair when I was a kid and I screamed and cried for ages with a stranger in the house that had my mums voice.
Im always asking my brother if people in photos (even other brothers, sisters, mum, nieces etc) are really them.
I dont recognise myself in the mirror. I dont even know what I look like.
I can't follow movie story lines because I don't know whos who. I prefer chinese dramas set in olden times because they keep the actors in the same colours and I can more easily follow it.
If someone comes to me outside of their normal environment, I dont know who they are.
I can only know who a person is by the environment, personality, identifiers (scars, hair, moles, voice etc) or if there are 2 or more together (husband and wife). But if I only meet one of the couple, I dont know who they are. Or if someone changes their hair, I have to restart.

Funny thing is, I can tell identical twins apart when others cant because I dont identify them by face.

Hope this helps someone to link "symptoms".

[Deathcat]

We memorize the ppl we have constant interactions with .we know our children's faces. Our families. You can memorize ppl of importants. . It's very hard condition. Especially at work.

[cherrie]

I found out i have it few weeks ago.. I could never Understand why did i stuggle so hard with recognizing people..

[chitrmala]

Excellent reporting on a complex topic Dr. Mehra!

[brendanbutler]

I can recognise people in photographs but find it very difficult in real life

[ericswinton]

The guy in the middle is so awkward and cringey.