Recognizing people
1 min readByViolet Bilodeau
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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Katinka Clementsmith•recently•edited
I knew I had trouble recognizing faces long before I knew I had aphantasia. I always thought it was because maybe I was slow or maybe just wasn't paying attention. Just a few months after finding out I had aphantasia I saw my own son after not seeing him for 6 months. I stared at him for quite a while as his face seemed so foreign to me. He said "mom, you are staring at me being because you don't recognize me, aren't you?" I could have cried in shame. Then I could have cried with relief as I finally realized I may have an actual reason why I don't recognize people and it has nothing to do with being impolite.
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Michael Healy•recently•edited
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'.
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Joe Falk•recently•edited
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.
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Katinka Clementsmith•recently•edited
I try to do the same. Oddly I also can't recall the names, even if I recognize the voice, or their walk, or know I know them.
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