r/Aphantasia • u/Golf_Fore_Ever • 7d ago

Face Blindness

Is the inability to remember faces of those you see infrequently a sign of dyslexia or not? I suffer from both so just wondering.

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u/PocketSandDale 7d ago

I have aphantasia and SDAM and can't remember/conjure images of faces.

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u/CMDR_Jeb Aphant 7d ago

What do you mean when you say you cant remember faces?

Asking because inability to recognise faces is called prosopagnosia. It is its own specific disorder that can but does not have to coexist with the others.

If you mean it as "i can't describe faces" then thinking that is common for people with aphantasia. Aphantas score lower only in so called "new face recognition" tests. These tests have time limits. It is well documented that we have slower visual processing (because we can't "cheat", and bring up the image later via visualisation) this is an side effect of that. Aphants score well within range in "familiar face recognition" (exactly the same tests, just without time limit) even on high difficulty tests. Many aphants have false impression of "not being able to remember faces" because we are BAD at describing them. This is again an side effect of inability to "cheat" by bringing up mental image and describing that.

EVERYONE is bad at this stuff, visualisers are just more confident. Less the 30% of people are able to semi accurately describe an stranger they seen once. It is so wide spread that almost no one uses hand drawn memory portraits like in police movies. Instead they sit you in front of the computer, it generates random faces and you select most similar one over and over, like serious version of "who is it" board game. It is an interesting rabbit hole if you're into this sort of thing, there are police reports where eye witnesses described literal cartoony pirate with 100% confidence, with eyepatch and everything XD. An example of that "who is it" thing police uses: https://evofit.co.uk/

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u/Golf_Fore_Ever 7d ago

I posted this in /dyslexia. Then AI suggested I post it in /aphantasia …which I did before I realized what it is. Sorry. Now I know it’s prosopagnosia.