Face Blindness - When Every Face Looks the Same

All of us have trouble, from time to time, putting a name to a face. But what if you couldn't tell one face from another because they all looked the same? It may sound like science fiction, but CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a CBS News contributor, says it's a very real problem for millions of people.

His face may not be familiar, but his books should be. Neurologist Oliver Sackshas written 10 best sellers about the way the mind works. One, "Awakenings," became a movie - and Robin Williams' character is based on Dr. Sacks.

Now, Sacks is revealing his own brain disorder -an inability to recognize faces.

"I've had difficulty recognizing faces for as long as I can remember," Sacks said.

(Scroll down to watch the video.)

Every face looks pretty much like every other face. It's called face blindness, or prosopagnosia.

Here's how Sacks describes what he's seeing.

"I can see your expressions and your attention and where your eyes look. I see all the features but it doesn't quite add up to a unique image."

Someone who is face blind sees the features, but can't place the face.

"Sometimes I kiss or embrace strangers thinking that I know them," Sacks said.

Take the Face Blindness Test

It's so bad that when Sacks wrote a book reminiscing about his favorite uncle, he used a picture of someone else.

Sacks said his cousins wrote him "indignantly" saying, "are you mad? That is not our father and it looks nothing like our father!" Sacks fixed it in the paperback.

He's able to recognize people, if he has enough clues.

Harvard researchers studying the disorder estimate one out of fifty people have it.

Prosopagnosia Research Centers at Harvard University

With regard to face blindness, doctors can point to a particular area of the brain and say it comes from here. Sacks said if that area is stimulated, "the person will hallucinate faces."

The sufferers include the artist Chuck Close,who gained world-wide renown with his portraits of faces.

Close told the World Science Festival, "We have to prove to the people we see that we care about them even though we're not going to recognize their faces or even remember their names."

It's one reason why he paints family like his daughter Maggie, and his wife Leslie.

"There are millions of us, of my sort, around who require if not help, some sort of understanding, some sort of tolerance," Sacks said.

By going public, Sacks hopes face blindness will be accepted much like dyslexia - a little recognition for those who can't recognize.

[barbaram99]

I can't see the face that clear. I surely can't tell the genders apart by sight. I have a reason. I have to member the clothes my roommate wears. The voices of them I know. I was asked the colour my friend's face at the time he was having health issues where that info is helpful to them that need to know. I can't see it to tell ye even tho I have some sight in one eye. It can be scary. I know their touch if they have touched my hand before. They ask for visual details. Some of us can't give them. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Besides legal blindness,I have C/P.

[pinkkiwis]

I really appreciated this news clip. Face blindness is something that i grew up with, not understanding why i had such a hard time recognizing people, or realizing that it wasn't normal to have a hard time finding your mother in a crowd if you forgot what she wore that day. Within the past year or so I've discovered that it is an actual condition and not just carelessness as i had always felt (and guilted myself for). Then being open with people about it has also helped me a lot. I really hope you do succeed in making this as well know as dyslexia, not only for those around us to understand that its not carelessness, but also for those who don't yet understand they are living with face blindness.

also... did anyone else find the newscasters opening line ironic? "His face may not be familiar...."

[barbaram99]

tool,
I have no depth as I am one eyed legally blind. I wear glasses and they are for the fact I have no lens in my eye.With glasses I still legally blind. I have problems seeing things in movement. I have called women sir by err. I have never had depth and so I have no idea what that is. I can look at a photo and see what they look like. People's faces are diffent.
I have said that the quiet cars are unsafe for me and one eye persons. So when they crank up their sound system that tells me when they are. I know the area where I live.
When I think of people.I member their voice and touch. To us that blog their user names.
When I am out I have to keep my mind on what I am doing. I have said I have to think saftey first,etc. I use sighted guide.
So I can't see the curb. I have fallen due to no depth.
I member talking to a lady who has a one eye dog and I told her reason her dog could not see. Ye need 2 eyes for depth.

[bootleg13]

For some of us it goes beyond not recognizing faces. I am unable to visualize anything. As I'm sitting here, I can't picture my wife, daughter, or home in my head. I was in my late 20's before I even realized that my experience was different from most people's. I used to think that when people talked about picturing something in their mind it was just another way to say they were thinking about something. I didn't realize they could really "see" something.

[barbaram99]

I told my mother that I have never seen her face even face to face years ago. That is true.I had to learn to read the tones in the human voice. At age 37 I had a thick cataract removed from my visually imaired eye and so I am still legally blind . I had to learn what things looked like and there are things I will never see. I am near sighted.
I never knew fully sighted people can't tell faces apart. Can they read face expressions. I did watch the story of the man that is the centre of this article. The gent who suffers from the disabiliy that he has felt the need to educate us about it. I had no idea. I will call out my sighted roommate's name if we are sep in public or listen for his voice. Us blind people do put a voice and name to others. I can tell my Notebook pc from one like it by the mark on the lid by touch as it is used. I would think that his family could help him with photos so he puts the right ones in his work.

[rondivoo]

I have always wondered why so many people couldn't recognize faces.... now I know. I don't have the above-mentioned condition and can recognize different faces easily (I see clearly every detail). But I know a lot of people who can't. It's a very common problem.

[ludvig1-2009]

I'm face blind. Today I couldn't remember who our waitress was. Yesterday I asked a lady at the bank, "Don't you do CD's anymore?" She said "You mean ... That's not me." At my dad's funeral I wondered "Who is that guy doing the bible readings." Oh that's my cousin. Then you have cops who can't tell one person from another. They arrested two people in the last year in Northern California because they looked like the robbers in two different bank robberies. It took the lawyer 4 - 5 months to clear his name. The other one cleared his quicker as he had video tape showing he was in another state at the time.

[barbaram99]

I am a legally blind person from birth. I think the thing that would help those who can't see faces as Dr has shared would learn their voices. I know the voices of them I inter act with.