Never Forget a Face

Interesting story I heard on the radio this evening. There is a condition some people have called Prosopagnosia. If you have it, you can't remember a face. The face recognition in some people is so severe that they cannot pick their own child out of a group of children when they pick them up from school.

Apparently this can have several causes, brain trauma being an obvious one. A not so obvious cause has to do with babies who are born with cataracts. If the baby has a cataract in their right eye, this will not cause this sort of problem, because apparently this function is a right brain kinda thing. However, if the baby has a cataract in their left eye at birth, even if it's operated on at, say, six months old, there is development that would normally take place during those six months that is inhibited by the presence of the cataract, and the child becomes much more likely to develop Prosopagnosia.

So, can you remember a face? Well, they have a website with info and a very interesting pair of tests that are fun, but also pretty informative. Go to Faceblind.Org and go to the research section. There will be a link to the two tests. Take them and put your results in the comments section. And if you do really poorly, well, now you know where to go get help.

Happy Face Hunting.

Hmmm, that sounds gross.

Edit: For the Linkically impaired, I offer here the direct link to the Face Test. Enjoy.