Face Blindness, part 1

CBS News

18 Mar 201212:45

Summary

TLDRThis script explores the condition of face blindness, or prosopagnosia, a neurological disorder that makes facial recognition extremely difficult. It discusses the challenges faced by those affected, such as not recognizing family members or themselves in mirrors. The script also features interviews with individuals living with the condition, like Jacob Hods, and experts studying it, including Brad Shane. It touches on the historical lack of awareness and understanding of face blindness in the medical community and includes a demonstration of the condition's impact. The script also highlights the unique coping strategies used by those with face blindness and the emotional toll it can take, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and acknowledging the condition.

Takeaways

😲 Face blindness, or prosopagnosia, is a condition where individuals cannot recognize faces, even those of loved ones.
👨‍🎓 Jacob Hods, a 31-year-old college graduate with a normal life, struggles with face blindness and cannot identify faces.
🤔 Face blindness can be so severe that it prevents people from recognizing their own children or themselves in a mirror.
👨‍🏫 Brad Shane, a Dartmouth professor, has been studying face blindness for 15 years and explains the difficulty of recognizing familiar faces.
🔍 A demonstration using upside-down faces shows how difficult it is to recognize people when facial cues are disrupted.
🎨 Renowned portraitist Chuck Close, despite being severely face blind, paints faces by breaking them down into small, memorable pieces.
👥 People with face blindness rely on non-facial cues like hair, body shape, gait, voice, and clothing to identify others.
🤷‍♀️ Face blindness can lead to social challenges, as people may误以为 you are ignoring them or are uninterested.
🧠 Recent studies suggest that up to 1 in 50 people may have face blindness, indicating it's more common than previously thought.
🧬 Researchers are investigating the neurological basis of face blindness to better understand and potentially treat the condition.

Q & A

What is face blindness or prosopagnosia?
-Face blindness, also known as prosopagnosia, is a condition that makes it nearly impossible for individuals to recognize or identify faces. It can affect people to the extent that they cannot even recognize their own family members or themselves in a mirror.
How common is face blindness?
-Recent studies suggest that as many as 1 in 50 people may be face blind.
What is the history of recognizing face blindness as a condition?
-Face blindness only got its name in the 1940s when soldiers returned from World War II with head injuries that caused them to be unable to recognize their family members. It took another 50 years for science to discover that people could be born with face blindness.
How does face blindness affect daily life?
-People with face blindness may struggle with recognizing their spouse, children, or even themselves in a mirror. They often rely on other strategies such as hair, body shape, the way people walk, their voice, or style of dress to identify individuals.
Who is Jacob Hods and what is his experience with face blindness?
-Jacob Hods is a 31-year-old man with a college degree and a history of good jobs. Despite appearing normal, he cannot recognize faces. He is unable to identify even very famous faces and relies on other cues to recognize people.
What is the effect of facial hair or hairstyle changes on people with face blindness?
-Changes in facial hair or hairstyle can significantly affect the ability of people with face blindness to recognize individuals. For example, Jacob Hods had difficulty recognizing a colleague named Sylvia until she put her hair into her usual ponytail.
How does the condition affect professional life?
-Professional life can be tricky for those with face blindness. For instance, a doctor may rely on patient charts to recognize patients, and a software products designer might find it challenging to identify colleagues in a cafeteria.
What is the role of famous neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks in understanding face blindness?
-Dr. Oliver Sacks, a renowned neurologist and writer, wrote about face blindness in his book 'The Mind's Eye'. He himself is face blind and has experienced difficulty recognizing faces, including his own.
What strategies do people with face blindness use to cope with their condition?
-People with face blindness often rely on non-facial cues such as voice, clothing, or specific features like ear size to recognize individuals. They may also use strategies like always sitting in the same place or placing themselves in a position where they can easily see others.
How does face blindness impact social interactions?
-Social interactions can be challenging for those with face blindness because they might not recognize friends or acquaintances, which can lead to misunderstandings or being perceived as inattentive or rude.
What is the role of Chuck Close, a renowned portraitist, in the context of face blindness?
-Chuck Close, despite being severely face blind, has spent his career painting faces. He works from a gridded photograph, breaking down the face into small, memorable pieces to create his portraits.

Outlines

00:00

😲 The Struggles of Face Blindness

This paragraph introduces the condition of face blindness, or prosopagnosia, which affects the ability to recognize faces. It describes the automatic nature of face recognition for most people and contrasts it with the difficulties faced by those with face blindness. The paragraph also introduces Jacob Hods, a 31-year-old man with the condition, who despite having a college degree and successful career, struggles with recognizing faces. The script discusses the challenges of living with face blindness, such as not recognizing family members or oneself in a mirror. It also touches on the fact that face blindness is not widely known or understood, even within the medical community.

05:03

🤔 Coping Mechanisms and Artistic Expression

The second paragraph delves into how individuals with face blindness rely on non-facial cues to identify people, such as hair, body shape, and voice. It discusses the challenges that arise when these cues change. The paragraph also features Chuck Close, a renowned portraitist who is also face blind. Despite his condition, Close has dedicated his career to painting faces by breaking them down into smaller, memorable pieces. The script includes a quiz where Close attempts to identify famous faces from partial views, highlighting the puzzle-like nature of face recognition for those with face blindness.

10:03

🧠 The Science and Social Impact of Face Blindness

The final paragraph discusses the scientific exploration of face blindness, including its recent identification and the search for neurological clues. It mentions the work of Dr. Oliver Sacks, who wrote about face blindness in his book 'The Mind's Eye'. The paragraph also explores the social implications of face blindness, such as the potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding in social interactions. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing and admitting to having face blindness to avoid social faux pas and misunderstandings. The script ends with a teaser about 'super recognizers', hinting at the diversity of human facial recognition abilities.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Face blindness

Face blindness, also known as prosopagnosia, is a neurological condition where individuals have difficulty recognizing faces. It is the central theme of the video, as it explores how this condition affects daily life. For instance, Jacob Hods, one of the people featured, struggles to identify faces even when they are famous or familiar.

💡Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia is the medical term for face blindness. It is a condition that was relatively unknown until recently, as highlighted by the script mentioning that it only got its name in the 1940s. The video uses this term to emphasize the seriousness and the medical nature of the condition.

💡Facial recognition

Facial recognition refers to the ability to identify or recognize faces. The video contrasts this ability with face blindness, showing how most people can easily recognize faces, even when features like hair are altered, while those with face blindness struggle with this basic task.

💡Strangers

The term 'strangers' is used in the script to illustrate the experience of face blindness. For someone with the condition, even a spouse or child can appear as a stranger due to their inability to recognize faces, which is a profound challenge to their personal relationships.

💡Automatic

The script mentions that recognizing faces is 'automatic' for most people, suggesting that it is an innate ability that requires no conscious effort. This is juxtaposed with the difficulty face blind individuals face, making their condition seem even more alien to those who do not experience it.

💡Twilight Zone

The 'Twilight Zone' is referenced to describe the surreal experience of face blindness. It implies that the condition is so unusual and disorienting that it feels like stepping into a bizarre, alternate reality, which is how it might feel for those who are not face blind to imagine living with the condition.

💡Demonstration

The video includes a demonstration where faces are shown upside down to illustrate the difficulty face blind individuals have with recognition. This is a practical example used to help viewers understand the condition on a more experiential level.

💡Identify

The concept of 'identifying' is crucial in the script as it contrasts the challenges faced by those with face blindness against the effortless identification most people take for granted. The script shows how difficult or even impossible it can be for some to identify faces.

💡Strategies

The video discusses various 'strategies' that face blind individuals use to compensate for their inability to recognize faces, such as relying on hair, body shape, or voice. These strategies are essential for navigating social situations and are highlighted as creative workarounds to a significant challenge.

💡Chuck Close

Chuck Close, a renowned portraitist, is mentioned as an example of someone with severe face blindness. Despite his condition, he has dedicated his career to painting faces, which adds a layer of complexity and irony to the narrative. His approach to breaking down faces into smaller, memorable pieces illustrates the adaptability of those with face blindness.

💡Super recognizers

In contrast to face blindness, 'super recognizers' are individuals with an exceptional ability to remember and recognize faces. The mention of super recognizers in the script serves to bookend the spectrum of facial recognition abilities, showing that while some struggle, others may excel in this area.

Highlights

Face blindness or prosopagnosia is a condition that makes it nearly impossible to recognize or identify faces.

People with face blindness can't recognize even their own family members or themselves in a mirror.

Face blindness is largely unknown to the medical world until very recently.

Jacob Hods, a 31-year-old man with a college degree and successful career, struggles with face blindness.

Brad Shane, a professor at Dartmouth College, has been studying face blindness for nearly 15 years.

People with face blindness can't create a memory of a face, so they rely on other strategies like hair, body shape, or voice.

Famous portraitist Chuck Close is also face blind and paints faces by breaking them down into small pieces.

Face blindness can make social situations difficult, as it's hard to recognize people even after meeting them.

Recent studies suggest that as many as 1 in 50 people may be face blind.

Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and writer, revealed that he himself is face blind.

People with face blindness often go undiagnosed because they assume everyone experiences faces the same way they do.

Face blindness can lead to social misunderstandings, as people may think you're ignoring them when you don't recognize them.

Individuals with face blindness use unique strategies to identify people, like recognizing specific features or mannerisms.

The condition can be both comic and serious, affecting how people interact with the world around them.

Researchers are searching for clues inside the brains of people with face blindness to understand the condition better.

There are also 'super recognizers' who have the opposite ability, never forgetting a face.