Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Sara on 21/05/2010 12:30:03

Title: Is not seeing "faces" in things related to autism?
Post by: Sara on 21/05/2010 12:30:03

Sara asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hey,

Been listening to your show (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/) for a couple of months via podcast (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/), and I really enjoy it.  You make what can be a dry topic and make it fun and cool and accessible.  If school science classes had been anything like your show, I'd not have been a total arts geek... :)

I have a question for you.  I am a high-functioning autistic adult with prosopagnosia (face blindness), meaning that I can't recognize people by their faces and must instead use their voice, gait, and habits to figure out who's who.

The odd thing is that I also do not see faces in random objects the way most people seem to.  Some call this paradolia, others 'matrixing', and I don't do it at all.  Is this related to the face blindness or to the autism itself?  I suppose this is a chicken/egg thing, but I've always wondered about it, and since face blindness seldom occurs without autism, I don't know anyone who is face blind and not autistic to ask about how they experience this.

I am thrilled that you reported the truth about autism that we autistic adults have been trying to get out there for years, that we're not diseased, broken, and 'poisoned', like the cure-based people have been stating for years.  We're just different, and different should never be something that should be eradicated. 

Thanks.  The more people who learn this, the better our lives will be.

What do you think?

Title: Is not seeing
Post by: RD on 21/05/2010 19:34:01

Quote from: Sara on 21/05/2010 12:30:03

I also do not see faces in random objects the way most people seem to

Not even in this example of the pareidolia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia) phenomenaan ? ... 
 [ Invalid Attachment ]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/6965982/Pictures-of-the-day-11-January-2010.html?image=8)

[ Does Russell Brand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Brand) need any more publicity ?. ]

Quote from: Sara on 21/05/2010 12:30:03

face blindness seldom occurs without autism, I don't know anyone who is face blind and not autistic to ask about how they experience this.

Various mechanisms of brain injury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosia#Causes) can cause face blindness so it is not exclusively associated autism.

Apparently there is an inherited version of prosopagnosia which affects 2.5% ... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19334306