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Originally Posted by Zwangsstörung
Wow, that's scary. Do you sometimes feel like everyone is always a stranger to you?
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Not exactly.
Given the very unlikely situation that I would be put into a very large room with 200 other people, not knowing where I was or if anyone I knew was in it, with like nothing but tables or something?
Yes, everyone would seem like a stranger.
There is a subtle sense of familiarity, but I am pretty much never sure if the person is out of context and my best friend [until I really figure it out] or someone I think I may possibly know, ha. Even if in context, that part of my brain [anyone's brain who experiences prosopagnosia] doesn't recognize faces, my brain actually reacts to faces slightly differently. This area of the brain specifically responds and is activated by faces- because my brain doesn't recognize a face as different from another face nearly as easily because that part dun broke, I don't have that instant sense of familiarity. Or comfort. Or excitement. Or disappointment. Or fear. Or anything one might associate with a particular face.
So it's like looking at the world and seeing everyone like all the girls from the Robert Palmer videos [
]. In those videos, they have numerous women models dancing in the background and such- all dancing the same steps, wearing the same dresses, same makeup, same hair color and style. They had put out a very specific casting call for the videos as well so all the women would look very similar.
My world is kind of like that much of the time.
This may also help to give an idea:
It's supposed to be the same face with different hair and clothing.
That's only partially representative.
Because even if you have the same face but people have different hairstyles, part of the ease in remembering that is the contrast made by the facial features and the hair color, style, facial hair or not, I think? Also, your brain pays special attention to those features and files them under 'face". Not under "thing like any other thing". I really don't know- is it obvious to most people these are the same face? It wasn't to me, and maybe it's not to most people but the people who put that together think it is. Just trying to gauge things.
With prosopagnosia, there isn't really a place to file the entire picture you see. So you can't really remember them much after you stop looking at them. For me, sometimes I can recognize people in a gestalt way because- but by that time they are close enough to have figured it out anyway it doesn't really matter.
...and I JUST realized RightNow why, with the seven sets of twins in our highschool class, I only had a little difficulty with telling one set apart. Ah... ok. jeeze, Josie.
Only I can use clues. Voice helps immensely, but not until someone is very near me. If I know someone well enough, I usually recognize their gait- people tend to have a pretty consistent gait. It may shift into two or three, but it is fairly consistent most of the time. Also if they have a favorite accessory, bag, unique way of holding their hands when they walk.
Hair can help sometimes, sometimes not.
Gait is usually the most reliable.
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Yeah, that would make sense. We all seem to need a sense of identity, and if you never truly recognise an identity on your face, who then are you? That must have had an effect on you, growing up. :\
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It may be why I've put a lot of work into it?
I'm also thinking some other things, too, but I'm hoping for some feedback on this before I mention all of them. If other people do experience this I'd like to know if they think it had any effect on how it may have formed anything about them. Also about how they experience it and get around it too would be great to read.
I'm... going to stop writing now haha.
Hopefully more people want to discuss this and I won't feel so silly.
