Major burn out from all directions in my case! However, the prosopagnosia article interested me. When I was in grad school, in my late 20's/early 30's my office mate commented that I must have prosopagnosia. I don't remember why it came up but I do remember the conversation. Up to that time I was unaware that my perception and recognition of faces was not the same as any other person's. BTW, I had to look up the word!I will say this about that, though. There must be gradations because I do recognize the people I see all the time and I can even visualize what my two closest friends looked like in high school. I would NOT however be able to make the adjustment and recognize them now. But more often than not I do not learn faces, and this is especially difficult in the classroom. However, I do take advantage to talk about prosopagnosia in all of my classes and to tell students that if I walk past them in public to introduce themselves and tell me how I know them! Also, even very well-known faces, such as my childrens' can be hard for me to recognize under the proper conditions. Yesterday I lost my son (adult) at the mall and I had such a hard time trying to find his face in the crowd. Many faces at first looked like his because they were in his "category." See below.
Here are some interesting tidbits: I see people's faces as belonging to "categories" (at USD there is the 'blond, blue eyed, average height and weight' category--I do believe that height and weight figure in because you see the face at a certain elevation and roundness) and I then form an implicit personality assessment of a person based on my previous experience with that category. There is only subjective experience for those categories and everyone who fits that "type" of face goes in there, so they do all get mixed up a bit. In other words, I don't know who is who within that category. It is embarrassing to have to be reintroduced to people! Fortunately, most of the categories are very positive :) OTOH if a face fails to fit into a pre-existing category I am far more likely to recognize it later on. I assume everyone does some of this type of categorizing. I wonder if I do more of it? As far as the auditory component goes: that is very interesting to me. I do not perceive differences in voices very well at all, but again, I just thought that was normal, plus I am a teensy bit deaf and I have attributed that to the slight deafness. Sometimes I see a face and I know that I know that person, but have no memory for why or how I know him or her, nor what the person's name is. Maybe some remember/know studies with prosopagnosia are in line to be done! There is a free idea for anyone who is looking for an idea. Finally, I don't know.......strippers and cocaine? Eh! Right now a hot jacuzzi bath and a massage are more in order. Maybe with a glass of wine...or scotch...or xanax...but not both. Should we be talking this way in public forum? Can that be taken out of context and used against us? ;) winky face, humor, incongruity, not what is really meant! Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ________________________________ From: Michael Palij [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 6:13 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: [tips] I Recognize The Voice But I Don't Recognize The Face Tips has been unusually quiet over the past several days, implying: (1) The end of the semester was much worse then usual and/or (2) Most Tipsters are really into celebrating the holidays (i.e., Chanukah/Solstice/Christmas/Kwanzaa/Prince Spaghetti Day in honor of the Flying Spaghetti Monster/etc). and/or (3) Everybody got fired at the end of the fall semester and got their email accounts yanked (retirees were too busy with (2) above because, hey, they party all the time). So, anyway, the NY Times has a interesting article on prosopagnosia or face blindness that is somewhat based on an article in the Journal of Neuroscience but which focuses more on the people with the disorder. Here is a link to NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/health/views/face-and-voice-recognition-may-be-linked-in-the-brain-research-suggests.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Here is a link to the Journal of Neuroscience article: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/36/12906.abstract?sid=2704774c-0cbd-4342-9b75-639b388b99f9 I hope that everyone got whatever gifts they desired this holiday season while I await the arrival of World Peace and the Strippers with cocaine. Maybe they'll get to me by New Year's day which will give me real reasons to celebrate a new year! ;-) -Mike Palij New York University [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a21b0&n=T&l=tips&o=15028 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-15028-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-15028-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=15030 or send a blank email to leave-15030-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
