Faceblindness: Video From Good Morning America

Here is the link to the video that was on American television this morning. It was seen on ABC's Good Morning America.


ABC News: Faceblindness: Forgetting Familiar Faces: "How would you feel if your wife or mother didn't recognize you across a crowded room?

For Elaine Scheib's family, it was a reality. Scheib, who has perfectly normal vision, could not recognize the face of her husband, Bill, until they had dated for a year, and it took four years before she memorized her children's faces.

Scheib is part of the 2 percent of the population that suffers from a condition called prosopagnosia, also known as faceblindness, according to Harvard University professor Ken Nakayama, who has studied faceblindness extensively.

People with the disorder, which can lead to severe social problems, lack sufficient wiring in the part of the brain that recognizes faces. For doctors, it provides insight into how the brain functions."



First the Wall Street Journal this week, and now this. I am so happy! I find it very difficult to tell people I have this, because it requires so much explaining, and often people don't think its real. The more people know about it, the lower the barrier to being able to discuss it with them.

ABC News: Meet a Family Whose Members Don't Recognize One Another

ABC News: Meet a Family Whose Members Don't Recognize One Another: "Some people never forget a face.

But for 40 years, Sellers, a college English professor, has never been able to remember one. Even a face she's known since birth.

'I wouldn't be able to recognize my mother out of context if she was walking down the street. And then, along with that, I mistake people for her,' Sellers said."

I have had this same problem, not with my mother (I usually hear her coming:), but with my sister. It is the most disorienting, disconcerting feeling in the world. I can usually recognize my husband G, but I have walked by him enough times to not take it for granted. Thankfully, he often wears a baseball cap, so I just have to memorize which one he is wearing on any given day.