Did you catch the article on Wired.com on face blindness? ("They can see your eyes, your nose, your mouth – and still not recognize your face. Now scientists say people with prosopagnosia may help unlock some of the deepest mysteries of the brain.") Fascinating stuff.
The researchers have a website, Faceblind.org, that describes their research and offers two face recognition tests, one on celebrities, one on normal faces. On both, people normally get about 85% correct.
On the celebrity recognition test, I got 97% correct, missing only Tony Blair's face (and I thought it was him but wasn't sure; I do love pop culture). On the normal faces, I got only 74% right. According to the test, "If you scored less than 75% on this test, this may indicate face recognition difficulties."
Maybe it explains why there are certain people who remain big beige blobs to me, no matter how many times I'm introduced to them or how often I see them at parties. I seriously cannot recognize them out of context. While I'm sure eventually I'll recognize them, it's still very odd.
But in combination with the celebrity thing? Hilarious!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Face blindness
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6 comments:
I would have scored the same as you on the celebrity test, except that having read your post I knew Tony Blair had to be in there somewhere!
But I got 90% on the unfamiliar face one. I'm good with faces. And really bad with names.
Blair was tough, though, because you almost never see him up close, at least not in this country.
90%, bravo!
Hey! You know, I got a 93% on the stars and get ready at 94% on the unfamiliar face.. I too am good with faces but but with names and birthdays.
I took the tests and got 97% on the celebrities (Tony Blair got me too! Didn't read your whole post.) I got 95% on the unfamiliar faces one. Funny, as soon as the faces started to come up, I was giving them names and that helped me cue in on them during the test.
I tried giving them names, too. This is kind of freaking me out. Maybe I'll retake it once I've slept through the night for an entire week. Yeah, I bet that will help!
I got to take this test tonight...
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