Interesting and entertaining as always! Is there a diagnosis for recognizing people's faces but being unable to put them into context? I am amazed at school friends from 50 years ago who still know who I am and retain memories from our past, yet I'm only able to recognize their faces but have retained almost none of the history. I like to think they have a "gift". Yeah, let's go with that.
I struggle with something similar. I recognize faces, but not names. I could know someone, seen them many times, and but can't find the name. It's even happened with relatives, but not immediate family. I have learned to fake it, to make it into a joke - "You know me and names..." When I was at university, folks were always ready to tell me the one trick which will work, forgetting, i guess, my training in cognitive psychology or my specialization in memory research. It came as a great relief when Sacks wrote about name blindness. It also made sense, knowing about localization of function. My comment about Julia has to do with expecting more from someone that gets "neuroatypicality" of one sort. But, maybe that is the kind of awareness or curiosity only seen in a Sacks.
I think prosopagnosia would interest her, but she may never have had much reason to think about it because all her work was over in a far more specific area of a subfield under neuro*. I think, in real time, watching a person stare at you coldly, as if from afar, not a day after last seeing you, is far more readily received as a slight or indifference, etc. I somewhat subsconsciously knew I struggled with this, and when I was introduced to people, I warned them that I wouldn’t recognize them next time (‘i kinda walk around focused on my thoughts and dont always look around me', I’d say) but I felt like, it never really worked. Or at least, people will always take it personally if you show up somewhere and don’t recognize them. It’s like saying: ‘to me, you’re insignificant; to me, I didn’t even bother to recall anything about you’. I used to tell people that I tended too walk around, engrossed in my thoughts; that was somewhat true, but it wasn’t what was happening. All I knew was, some part of me wouldn’t recognize people immediately, and it was probably ‘my rich inner life’ being so wonderful and distracting. I think the default position with just about everyone is ‘nobody should ever fail to recognize me, and if they do, they must not be my friend’. The truth is I haven’t always recognized my daughters.
I have many nice things to say about her, but she's private and reserved, and I instinctively leave her out of things. My daughters are different; they are bold, and get angry or disappointed when they don't get a mention in a newsletter. They overall feel that each and every newsletter I write should concern itself exclusively with them. I may start doing that, because they are legitimately funny; I just wanted to give them the space to grow, and change, in the meantime. The other day, Hattie said, after making a mistake: "Well, at least I'm bad at SOMETHING. People can relax now." I could just follow them around and transcribe their conversations, and call it a day.
Just wanted to say again, thanks for being here, Denise :)
Always gladdens my heart to see a post from you, thanks for the smiles you bring. I can't find words to respond to this post, but if I could ... they would be words that gladdened your heart
Know that you're appreciated. These last few newsletters have been long, and difficult to write, somehow. Sometimes, they're easy, and quick; I've just felt like, I could go no further, in life, without telling certain stories. So, again, I appreciate you being here, and being part of this madness. I hope all's going great with you!
Interesting and entertaining as always! Is there a diagnosis for recognizing people's faces but being unable to put them into context? I am amazed at school friends from 50 years ago who still know who I am and retain memories from our past, yet I'm only able to recognize their faces but have retained almost none of the history. I like to think they have a "gift". Yeah, let's go with that.
I struggle with something similar. I recognize faces, but not names. I could know someone, seen them many times, and but can't find the name. It's even happened with relatives, but not immediate family. I have learned to fake it, to make it into a joke - "You know me and names..." When I was at university, folks were always ready to tell me the one trick which will work, forgetting, i guess, my training in cognitive psychology or my specialization in memory research. It came as a great relief when Sacks wrote about name blindness. It also made sense, knowing about localization of function. My comment about Julia has to do with expecting more from someone that gets "neuroatypicality" of one sort. But, maybe that is the kind of awareness or curiosity only seen in a Sacks.
What gets me most is that Julia-MIT-Brain-Scientist-Specializing-in-Autism didn't realize this when it was, well, staring her in the face.
I think prosopagnosia would interest her, but she may never have had much reason to think about it because all her work was over in a far more specific area of a subfield under neuro*. I think, in real time, watching a person stare at you coldly, as if from afar, not a day after last seeing you, is far more readily received as a slight or indifference, etc. I somewhat subsconsciously knew I struggled with this, and when I was introduced to people, I warned them that I wouldn’t recognize them next time (‘i kinda walk around focused on my thoughts and dont always look around me', I’d say) but I felt like, it never really worked. Or at least, people will always take it personally if you show up somewhere and don’t recognize them. It’s like saying: ‘to me, you’re insignificant; to me, I didn’t even bother to recall anything about you’. I used to tell people that I tended too walk around, engrossed in my thoughts; that was somewhat true, but it wasn’t what was happening. All I knew was, some part of me wouldn’t recognize people immediately, and it was probably ‘my rich inner life’ being so wonderful and distracting. I think the default position with just about everyone is ‘nobody should ever fail to recognize me, and if they do, they must not be my friend’. The truth is I haven’t always recognized my daughters.
"Only one" 😆 I absolutely now adore your wife.
I have many nice things to say about her, but she's private and reserved, and I instinctively leave her out of things. My daughters are different; they are bold, and get angry or disappointed when they don't get a mention in a newsletter. They overall feel that each and every newsletter I write should concern itself exclusively with them. I may start doing that, because they are legitimately funny; I just wanted to give them the space to grow, and change, in the meantime. The other day, Hattie said, after making a mistake: "Well, at least I'm bad at SOMETHING. People can relax now." I could just follow them around and transcribe their conversations, and call it a day.
Just wanted to say again, thanks for being here, Denise :)
Always gladdens my heart to see a post from you, thanks for the smiles you bring. I can't find words to respond to this post, but if I could ... they would be words that gladdened your heart
Know that you're appreciated. These last few newsletters have been long, and difficult to write, somehow. Sometimes, they're easy, and quick; I've just felt like, I could go no further, in life, without telling certain stories. So, again, I appreciate you being here, and being part of this madness. I hope all's going great with you!