I don’t forget people’s names, but I am faceblind. I will remember an interaction involving me and this person named X—and then that story won’t come to mind when I see X, unless/until they tell me their name again.
If I never found out the person’s name, then I probably won’t remember them at all.
The memory is there—I just have no look-up key (where for most people, that would be the person’s face.)
Prosopagnosia sufferer here -- what clues do you use to ID people?
I rely mostly on gait, height /build, dress habit, hair / facial hair, voice. If someone grows / shaves a beard or gets glasses, I'm pretty hosed. Example : my own uncle cut his hair and shaved his moustache, I didn't recognize him until he spoke.
Out of pure curiosity... how absolute is face-blindness? Would you be unable to recognize the face even of someone you’re very close to, like a close friend, everyday coworker, or significant other? Or would you still need non-facial cues to identify them?
Given two people with similar skin darkness, could you recognize that one is White and the other East Asian? Or that one is Indian and the other Black?
Do you notice any deficiencies in other types of pattern recognition, or more generally any other mental differences that you think might be connected?
If I never found out the person’s name, then I probably won’t remember them at all.
The memory is there—I just have no look-up key (where for most people, that would be the person’s face.)