by wj
I came across this article in the Washington Post today:
We’re having trouble recognizing each other in masks, and it’s getting awkward
I confess my immediate reaction was: Welcome to my world!
There are some people, me being one, who are really terrible at recognizing faces. It doesn’t necessarily rise to the level of Prosopagnosia (a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces). But it can be difficult nonetheless. I spent years travelling as part of an organization I belonged to. And I often would arrive somewhere to be greeted as a long lost friend . . . by people that I had no memory of ever having seen before. I routinely responded to “Hello, Bill” with “Hello . . . there.” Simply because I just had no name to insert.
And it isn’t just casual acquaintances. One of the stories in the article is of a guy who encountered his wife while working, where he had no expectation of seeing her. With masks, he simply didn’t recognize her. Me, I wouldn’t put money on my picking a picture of my wife (or my brother, or my sister) out of a photo array unless there were contextual clues I could use. I just don’t register faces.
Now, it appears, masks are bringing this to everyone. Except they don’t have a lifetime of practice at covering up their failure to recognize others. Rough.
Totally open thread.
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