Just thought I'd add this, if off-topic: I saw a man interviewed some years ago on a television show. He was blind, but he could see faces, that is, he could see nothing at all around the face in front of him, only the face. I had never heard of such a thing before that.
I’m always pointing out to my wife that so and so was in some movie years ago but she can’t see it until I point it out and she looks it up on the web.
This is a terrific piece. Unique, unusual, amusing. It's great to learn about something that is genuinely fascinating within the human experience, and not based on politics!
All the commenters bitching because this article wasn't "hard news" and/or "not political." It's the weekend, FFS. It's good for the brain and the soul to unwind a bit. The super important stuff will be back on Monday. In the meantime, have a drink.
Another New York Times puzzle: Why did this comment get refused consideration?
It was in regard to the so-called disappearance this summer of spotted lantern flies (you coulda fooled me):
"I don't know about this.
"Spotted lantern flies are still trying to get into my house in Flatbush. And yet I spent much of the spring spraying new wisteria tendrils, which the nymphs had transformed into black-beaded necklaces, with Neem oil, and also with Raid.
"Elsewhere, nearby, lantern flies still abound: atop the Palisades at State Line Park, where they were trying to land on my eyes; at my favorite fish shack in Port Washington, but contented at least to rest on my cotton shirt; and today at Old Bethpage Village, crawling in the grass.
"Last year I inadvertently carried one into Century-21 from Hudson River Park. It flew off and went skittering along the polished floor.
I have wondered whether I have below average face recognition — the problem described in this article is not the problem of remembering someone’s name when you see them, but recognizing them. People with this problem would be like dyslexic readers, using various crutches. I recognize this person because they always wear a hoodie and with that extra clue their face looks familiar, etc. The author describes something much than “below-average” , however. — she doesn’t recognize herself.
I remember 7th grade art class and having to do a self portrait using a mirror and getting a D. Probably just bad at art. But maybe partly this problem.
At around 11 or 12 I used to go to the movies every Sunday with my two sisters who were two years younger than I. I always enjoyed movies and I liked taking my sisters as well, but eventually, I stopped because they would become annoyed with me. I couldn’t tell the difference, for instance, between one cowboy and another (Gary Cooper or John Wayne, etc.) and I would constantly be asking them which guy it was who did what. This was embarrassing to them as they thought their brother was being an idiot, and caused people around us to tell us to quiet down.
In time I forgot about this and, in fact, my facial recognition ability improved as I grew up. However, it never became perfect. In my 50s I went to see a movie about a military trial. As the credits rolled, I turned to my girlfriend and commented that the lead actor, the guy who played the Atty., looked a lot like Tom Cruise but was a much better actor. At that moment, Tom Cruise’s name appeared in bold letters on the screen, while my girlfriend struggled to suppress hysterical laughter because everyone around us had heard me.
At my level the disability is funny, but I think I would find it disturbing if I could not recognize my own face in the mirror, Or could not tell my kids apart. On the other hand, I’m a super-taster, a gift that gave me a career.
wow - I'm a face blind super taster too. I wonder if the two often present together. It took me into the third season of Star Trek Enterprise to tell the difference between two of the characters. Yes that is a nerd reference
I would not be surprised if one gift was offset by another deficiency. So, was it worse as a kid? Did it improve as you grew up?
Part of my “improvement” was due to cognitive development— I use the “ long-form” facial recognition data set, where other information helps me sort out who’s who, but part of my improvement was simply realizing that it does not matter all that much. I still enjoy the movies and I don’t care if the people behind me laugh. I laugh too.
When I was around five or six, I remember not being able to tell my cousins apart. They thought that was really weird and decided that my problem was I couldn’t remember their names. I remember being uncomfortable, as they seemed to think I was somehow mentally deficient. And in fact, the name problem was an accurate assessment from their points of view.
I didn't realize how unlike others I am until much later in life. I served in a charity organization with several men who brought their wives to gatherings. These women literally all the looked the same to me. I imagine I seemed a bit standoffish because I tried to never be in a one-on-one conversation with them.
My biggest concern is that I not hurt anyone's feelings. People who matter a great deal to me are hurt if I don't recognize them. I usually use the "act enthusiastic and fake it until I figure it out through context" strategy.
For a hilarious take from the face of evil, read this. It’s like she can’t help herself. You know she’s seething inside instead of the BS that she’s excited for Kammy.
“On a gut level, I have never believed that a wife bears responsibility for the actions of her husband, she wrote. “But did she aid and abet her husband’s worst instincts? ”
Thirty years on, Hillary is finally taking responsibility for Bill's side pieces?
I seen an article that one reason Hillary refuses to leave The Stage is Bill, and their "Marriage". It's not just a one time thing (as bad as that can be for a Marriage), but he's was (Is?) a serial cheater, he can't keep his pants zipped. And now after putting up with that what has she got? Sold her soul for a mess of pottage.
That said find it Difficult to find sympathy for her. She had to know right from the start what she was getting in to.
My daughter has this ability, but we thought it was ‘Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory’ which is actually a thing (HSAM). Perhaps she has both? In 2015 we were in one of those snaky lines for an amusement park ride at Cedar Point when she was 14 years old. She casually said “Hey, there’s Tara!.” “Who’s Tara?” I asked, thinking it must be a classmate. “She waited on us at the Bob Evans in Wadsworth on April 17 in 2008.” As the line progressed we got closer to Tara and her group of friends, who were in the parallel line moving beside us. “Excuse me, I know this sounds weird but my daughter thinks she recognizes you.” Is there any chance that you used to work at a Bob Evans restaurant in Wadsworth, Ohio several years ago?” Tara replied that she had indeed worked at the BE restaurant in Wadsworth the summer she got out of high school in 2008. She had since graduated from college, got married, was working in Columbus, and was visiting Cedar Point with friends. Seven years apart and 1 hour and 30 minutes between Sandusky, Ohio and Wadsworth, Ohio my daughter made the connection with a young lady who she interacted with for maybe five minutes in a waitress/customer situation. Tara and her friends were amazed and likely slightly freaked out by their encounter with us, but they were very nice about the situation. I told my daughter I was amazed with her ability to remember people, and then she told me what I, my wife, and she had ordered that morning on our way to Akron for a medical appointment. She also rattled off the name of the doctor she saw, the nurse who took her weight and height measurements, and the receptionist who checked us out after the appointment seven year earlier on a Thursday, April 17. She is a calendar savant, too. That is the HSAM because if she experiences something she never forgets it. It’s an incredible talent with insidious effects, since she simply cannot forget anything that has occurred in her life. Thanks for this article!
The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed today about an autistic child's "shrieks and coos" throughout a concert at the Hollywood Bowl during Joshua Bell's violin playing. A nearby patron, annoyed, alerted an usher, and the family left.
The writer ended by saying,
"What saddens me is that the evening could have ended so differently. A few years ago, just as a Boston orchestra finished a Mozart piece, a different little boy reacted with a 'Wow!' so loud that the audience laughed and then broke into applause.
"It turned out he was autistic and rarely spoke at all. An audio recording of his utterance went viral, attracting headlines and even inspiring a children’s picture book, 'The Boy Who Said Wow.' 'It was one of the most wonderful moments I’ve experienced in the concert hall,' the orchestra’s president said at the time."
This is disingenuous. The difference is, of course, that one child exclaimed only at the end of the concert, as anyone might ("Bravo!"), while the other exclaimed throughout, including during softer violin passages.
Over the years, I've sat next to those whose disabilities made attending to the concert stage difficult; for them and for me. (Also next to perfectly normal young people with egregious manners.) Recognizing that these families have difficulties enough, I've held my tongue but always feel a mixture of sadness and relief when they leave early. This was true particularly when a young woman, in her early twenties perhaps, dressed up beautifully to see "Nutcracker," was finally taken away by her clearly disappointed mother and grandmother. They had been hopeful for a better experience.
So had I been, for them, for their night out seeing one of the last best things our city has to offer.
Just thought I'd add this, if off-topic: I saw a man interviewed some years ago on a television show. He was blind, but he could see faces, that is, he could see nothing at all around the face in front of him, only the face. I had never heard of such a thing before that.
I’m always pointing out to my wife that so and so was in some movie years ago but she can’t see it until I point it out and she looks it up on the web.
My problem is names.
This is a terrific piece. Unique, unusual, amusing. It's great to learn about something that is genuinely fascinating within the human experience, and not based on politics!
All the commenters bitching because this article wasn't "hard news" and/or "not political." It's the weekend, FFS. It's good for the brain and the soul to unwind a bit. The super important stuff will be back on Monday. In the meantime, have a drink.
Yes, everything doesn’t have to be about the end of the world. All new knowledge is good
Right? There’s enough to bitch about already. Doesn’t look interesting or not in the mood, skip it.
I’m on my second beverage. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.
Another New York Times puzzle: Why did this comment get refused consideration?
It was in regard to the so-called disappearance this summer of spotted lantern flies (you coulda fooled me):
"I don't know about this.
"Spotted lantern flies are still trying to get into my house in Flatbush. And yet I spent much of the spring spraying new wisteria tendrils, which the nymphs had transformed into black-beaded necklaces, with Neem oil, and also with Raid.
"Elsewhere, nearby, lantern flies still abound: atop the Palisades at State Line Park, where they were trying to land on my eyes; at my favorite fish shack in Port Washington, but contented at least to rest on my cotton shirt; and today at Old Bethpage Village, crawling in the grass.
"Last year I inadvertently carried one into Century-21 from Hudson River Park. It flew off and went skittering along the polished floor.
"They are foul."
Any guesses?
I have wondered whether I have below average face recognition — the problem described in this article is not the problem of remembering someone’s name when you see them, but recognizing them. People with this problem would be like dyslexic readers, using various crutches. I recognize this person because they always wear a hoodie and with that extra clue their face looks familiar, etc. The author describes something much than “below-average” , however. — she doesn’t recognize herself.
I remember 7th grade art class and having to do a self portrait using a mirror and getting a D. Probably just bad at art. But maybe partly this problem.
I have never heard of a person who can’t recognize their own picture.
So strange
At around 11 or 12 I used to go to the movies every Sunday with my two sisters who were two years younger than I. I always enjoyed movies and I liked taking my sisters as well, but eventually, I stopped because they would become annoyed with me. I couldn’t tell the difference, for instance, between one cowboy and another (Gary Cooper or John Wayne, etc.) and I would constantly be asking them which guy it was who did what. This was embarrassing to them as they thought their brother was being an idiot, and caused people around us to tell us to quiet down.
In time I forgot about this and, in fact, my facial recognition ability improved as I grew up. However, it never became perfect. In my 50s I went to see a movie about a military trial. As the credits rolled, I turned to my girlfriend and commented that the lead actor, the guy who played the Atty., looked a lot like Tom Cruise but was a much better actor. At that moment, Tom Cruise’s name appeared in bold letters on the screen, while my girlfriend struggled to suppress hysterical laughter because everyone around us had heard me.
At my level the disability is funny, but I think I would find it disturbing if I could not recognize my own face in the mirror, Or could not tell my kids apart. On the other hand, I’m a super-taster, a gift that gave me a career.
wow - I'm a face blind super taster too. I wonder if the two often present together. It took me into the third season of Star Trek Enterprise to tell the difference between two of the characters. Yes that is a nerd reference
PS. Did u become a chef?
My cooking skills are very rudimentary :)
I would not be surprised if one gift was offset by another deficiency. So, was it worse as a kid? Did it improve as you grew up?
Part of my “improvement” was due to cognitive development— I use the “ long-form” facial recognition data set, where other information helps me sort out who’s who, but part of my improvement was simply realizing that it does not matter all that much. I still enjoy the movies and I don’t care if the people behind me laugh. I laugh too.
When I was around five or six, I remember not being able to tell my cousins apart. They thought that was really weird and decided that my problem was I couldn’t remember their names. I remember being uncomfortable, as they seemed to think I was somehow mentally deficient. And in fact, the name problem was an accurate assessment from their points of view.
I’m stunned the way it all comes back to me.
I didn't realize how unlike others I am until much later in life. I served in a charity organization with several men who brought their wives to gatherings. These women literally all the looked the same to me. I imagine I seemed a bit standoffish because I tried to never be in a one-on-one conversation with them.
My biggest concern is that I not hurt anyone's feelings. People who matter a great deal to me are hurt if I don't recognize them. I usually use the "act enthusiastic and fake it until I figure it out through context" strategy.
I wonder if it is an autism-adjacent deficit.
I worked with a twenty years my senior that I met shortly after being hired.
I didn't see him again for over a year and he knew my name and where I was from after a five minute chance meeting.
I was impressed with his remarkable mind and said as much.
He told me he took a memory course at a junior college a few years before.
This was forty five years ago so maybe my memory isn't as bad as I sometimes think it is.
Everyone have a blessed day and enjoy your blessings that other's don't have.
..... and then you have those people who possess the facial recognition ability of a macaque AND a macaques IQ.
They are what's known as "Democrats".
Yeah Trump, MTG, Boebert..all mental giants
Know what else they don't recognize? All their failures.
For a hilarious take from the face of evil, read this. It’s like she can’t help herself. You know she’s seething inside instead of the BS that she’s excited for Kammy.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2024/09/21/hillary-describes-melania-trump-as-looking-like-kid-on-the-outside-of-the-birthday-party-in-funeral-recollection-1489169/?utm_campaign=bizpac&utm_content=Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=Get%20Response&utm_term=EMAIL
“On a gut level, I have never believed that a wife bears responsibility for the actions of her husband, she wrote. “But did she aid and abet her husband’s worst instincts? ”
Thirty years on, Hillary is finally taking responsibility for Bill's side pieces?
I seen an article that one reason Hillary refuses to leave The Stage is Bill, and their "Marriage". It's not just a one time thing (as bad as that can be for a Marriage), but he's was (Is?) a serial cheater, he can't keep his pants zipped. And now after putting up with that what has she got? Sold her soul for a mess of pottage.
That said find it Difficult to find sympathy for her. She had to know right from the start what she was getting in to.
Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks
How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTz7nABgIH4
My daughter has this ability, but we thought it was ‘Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory’ which is actually a thing (HSAM). Perhaps she has both? In 2015 we were in one of those snaky lines for an amusement park ride at Cedar Point when she was 14 years old. She casually said “Hey, there’s Tara!.” “Who’s Tara?” I asked, thinking it must be a classmate. “She waited on us at the Bob Evans in Wadsworth on April 17 in 2008.” As the line progressed we got closer to Tara and her group of friends, who were in the parallel line moving beside us. “Excuse me, I know this sounds weird but my daughter thinks she recognizes you.” Is there any chance that you used to work at a Bob Evans restaurant in Wadsworth, Ohio several years ago?” Tara replied that she had indeed worked at the BE restaurant in Wadsworth the summer she got out of high school in 2008. She had since graduated from college, got married, was working in Columbus, and was visiting Cedar Point with friends. Seven years apart and 1 hour and 30 minutes between Sandusky, Ohio and Wadsworth, Ohio my daughter made the connection with a young lady who she interacted with for maybe five minutes in a waitress/customer situation. Tara and her friends were amazed and likely slightly freaked out by their encounter with us, but they were very nice about the situation. I told my daughter I was amazed with her ability to remember people, and then she told me what I, my wife, and she had ordered that morning on our way to Akron for a medical appointment. She also rattled off the name of the doctor she saw, the nurse who took her weight and height measurements, and the receptionist who checked us out after the appointment seven year earlier on a Thursday, April 17. She is a calendar savant, too. That is the HSAM because if she experiences something she never forgets it. It’s an incredible talent with insidious effects, since she simply cannot forget anything that has occurred in her life. Thanks for this article!
Sounds like a great basis for a character in a book/TV series with movie connection. Someone who the Secret Service could use… amazing…
The saddest thing about this article, that is really irrelevant, is that at the bottom they are begging for letters.
Why not read the comments? Many are very instructive.
I think TFP is something of an adolescent. It’s trying to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up.
It seldom actually gathers “news”, it reports from second-hand sources. Most of what it generates are left-slanted opinion pieces.
TFP comes across as more of a localized / regional magazine, sort of like ‘Garden & Gun”, or “New Yorker”.
They are extremely lucky to have Nellie, who transcends the NYC / NYT bubble.
Agree GF, but I’m not going as far as to say they’re lucky to have Nellie.
Tell me someone who is better at doing what she does, than Nellie on a good day.
Re neuro-divergence:
The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed today about an autistic child's "shrieks and coos" throughout a concert at the Hollywood Bowl during Joshua Bell's violin playing. A nearby patron, annoyed, alerted an usher, and the family left.
The writer ended by saying,
"What saddens me is that the evening could have ended so differently. A few years ago, just as a Boston orchestra finished a Mozart piece, a different little boy reacted with a 'Wow!' so loud that the audience laughed and then broke into applause.
"It turned out he was autistic and rarely spoke at all. An audio recording of his utterance went viral, attracting headlines and even inspiring a children’s picture book, 'The Boy Who Said Wow.' 'It was one of the most wonderful moments I’ve experienced in the concert hall,' the orchestra’s president said at the time."
This is disingenuous. The difference is, of course, that one child exclaimed only at the end of the concert, as anyone might ("Bravo!"), while the other exclaimed throughout, including during softer violin passages.
Over the years, I've sat next to those whose disabilities made attending to the concert stage difficult; for them and for me. (Also next to perfectly normal young people with egregious manners.) Recognizing that these families have difficulties enough, I've held my tongue but always feel a mixture of sadness and relief when they leave early. This was true particularly when a young woman, in her early twenties perhaps, dressed up beautifully to see "Nutcracker," was finally taken away by her clearly disappointed mother and grandmother. They had been hopeful for a better experience.
So had I been, for them, for their night out seeing one of the last best things our city has to offer.
Life is hard.
Oh, wow. I'd never heard of either of these. Very interesting
I wonder if super-recognizers could help conclusively solve the DB Cooper case?