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Recognizing people

I don’t have Prosopagnosia, only aphantasia yet recognizing someone I have not seen in months or years can be difficult. Usually their voice causes me to realize who they are or sometimes a particular visual attribute tips me off such as their hair color/style. When working in retail I see a steady stream of faces. Sometimes I completely forget who I was helping which makes it extremely difficult to find the customer again. Does anyone else struggle with this? How do you explain it to people without feeling like an idiot?

Do you have difficulty recognizing people? What tricks do you use? 

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Joe Falk
on November 16, 2022

I have the same problems, it’s difficult. If the person has another hairstyle or anything else since the last meet, most of the time I let them greet me first. 

If it’s not to far away we met each other, I am able to regognize the person by his/her voice – but in the most cases without a name. 

What learned to do, is to play the game “oh wow you’re here, long time not seen” without trying to use a name. In over 90 % it works well and the other person did not realize that I can’t remember him/her.

Didn’t found any other way yet to compensate this behavior.

Michael Healy
on December 13, 2022

I have the exact opposite, so much so that I seem to recognise almost everyone I have ever seen.  I once did an extensive set of online tests which afterwards suggested that I might be classified as a ‘Super recogniser’.