60 Minutes on Sunday night did a story on face blindness (also known as prosopagnosia). I suspect you probably take your ability to identify people by their face for granted, but not everyone is so blessed. People who suffer from face blindness cannot use facial features such as eyes, nose, lips or face shape to recognize a face. Instead, they rely on hair style, clothing style, gait, voice, etc. to identiy people in their life.

Scientists estimate 1 in 50 people suffer from this disorder, and they are either born this way, or lose the ability after a stroke or injury.

How do you recognize a face of a friend or family member?

How do you differentiate your dad’s facial features from your uncle, or the man next door?

How would tell someone to identify that this man is Bob and not Bill?  And that Bill is not John, or Tim, or Zack!

Are you scratching your head?

We do a lot of powerful things with our subconscious mind, don’t we?

You don’t have to think about how you know Susan from Sandy, or Bill from Bob, or your co-worker from your neighbor.  You just do it naturally and intuitively.  You recognize the subtle differences that make up each face.  But scientists don’t know how we do that. And when you think about it–it is complex.

How would tell a face blind person how you read people’s identity through their faces so they could identify 100 different men or women?

I somewhat liken face blindness to what I do.  I see so many subtle elements that people communicate that others don’t, and I can tell you in a very challenging to communicate those subtleties to other people.  You think all people see them, but they don’t.

Next time you run into someone that doesn’t seem to recognize you–give them a little extra space. They may suffer from face blindness.