MovieChat Forums > Faces in the Crowd (2011) Discussion > What the hell is 'Face Blindness'?

What the hell is 'Face Blindness'?


Title says it all. Just curious about what means.

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When the brain is injured, face blindness can result. It is the brain's ability to recognize faces. Essentially, you do not recognize people anymore...even those closest to you. It is called prosopagnosia.

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You don't need brain damage - it can happen, just like color blindness.

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The human brain has a special way of remembering faces that doesn't work right in people with face blindness. Essentially, they can tell human faces apart the way you can tell the squirrels in the park apart.

You can get it from a head injury, or you can be born with it (more common with people on the autism spectrum) and it ranges in severity. For example, some people will struggle with their friends and family like Anna did in the movie, and other people will be able to recognize close friends and family in a crowd but will struggle with people at school, work, or in the community, especially if they run into someone "out of their element" (ie, if you see a coworker in the grocery store.)

It was thought to be extremely rare until recently, but that's because for the longest time they only studied and knew about people who acquired it. Most people who were born with it had no idea they were impaired, because it never occurred to them that it was even possible to remember just faces. Since they had it all their lives they never had to "adjust"- they developed techniques for remembering important people as children and just assumed nobody could remember strangers at a glance. Nowadays it's estimated that as many as 2% of the population may be impaired when it comes to remembering and recognizing faces.

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Supporting what Jackal said - I'm like this, and they're absolutely right - I never thought I was different.

What's painful is that many folks think I'm "lazy" or "don't care" when I don't recognize someone - like it's some kind of intentional slight. They really have no idea what it's like. If you're good at recognizing people, but have no idea what the difference is between a Honda Accord and a BMW 5-series, then imagine if every face you saw was a car. Sure - you could *learn* to recognize people, but you would have to study details every time you met someone.

What finally clued me in was when I was watching a movie starring an actor in heavy makeup and immediately knew who it was. My wife was startled, and finally agreed - that's when I realized that for me voices are immediately identifiable. I can hear a voice and I know who it is. That's when I understood that for most people faces are the same way, and how badly screwed I am.

Here are two examples I put together - in each collection of actresses, I can see that their faces are different when they're next to each other, but if one shows up in a movie or TV show, I often have no idea who it is until I've watched for a while.

These three are really confusing: http://imgur.com/a/AgE6C#0

The "Blonde dramatic B-lister" has almost become a joke in our family: http://imgur.com/a/PB3dB#0

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Exactly. I can recognize people in context - the woman in the cubicle next to me, no problem, as long as we're at work, but if ran into her on the street, dressed casually, it would take me a few minutes to figure out who she is. Even my husband looks "different" sometimes, when I really look at his face.

The worst is walking down the street and running into someone who knows me. I'm always wondering if this is someone I know, or just a scam? Or is this someone I really like and respect, and I'm offending her by not knowing who she is?

Men are the worst. Women usually have their own hairstyles, distinctive voices, the same purse they always carry, something to distinguish them. Men all look the same - either they have hair, or they don't, and that's pretty much it. I ran into my husband's accountant last week, and it took me more than five minutes to figure out who he was - I knew I knew that odd posture, but I just could not place him until he said a couple of things about my husband's work.

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"Face Blindness" is when you're so drunk you fall face flat and smash your beer goggles into your eyes. This is often accompanied by cheers from your mates and the occasional pool of vomit with carrots in it.

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Scientologists love Narnia, there's plenty of closet space.

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If you're so curious, what about being a little more resourceful and googling "face blindness" ? ^^;

___________
- Booker, are you afraid of God ?
- No. But I'm afraid of you.

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