To show some examples of typical ways I fail to recognize/identify people I wrote more in detail about
recent incidents.
1. I recently went to the mall and dropped off film taken about 3-4 months ago, it included pictures taken over 2 months in a variety of settings. As I flipped through the pictures I asked my partner who was "that pretty girl" in one of the pictures.
"What ?' she laughed at me " that's your granddaughter ! You don't recognize your own granddaughter ?"
Well, so sue me, though my partner recognized her immediately, I didn't. She's a young adult and lives in another state, so in my defense, I don't see her very often. The day we visited she playfully popped on a red wig to see how she looked in it and I snapped that picture. So once some time had passed I didn't recognize who she was at all .Though the picture was full face close up and clear there was no connection . I thought I had a 'stored memory' of her face .My 'stored memory' evidently relies a lot on her being blonde .
2. Another situation : I ran into an acquaintance(A) at the swimming pool in our complex and started to refer to a conversation about cars, something we talked about last week. From her blank look I realized that the woman I was talking to wasn't (of course) the one (B) who had been in the pool a few days back . So I quickly back-pedaled into something safe and went on to talking computers, as we two often have before and elicited another blank look.
Well, later I was informed at home that (C) is the one who talks of computers. Evidently I layered more than one identity on (A), and though I'd 'seen' her a few dozen times (as well as the others)over the year she could have been any generic, certain age, normal size, woman (swimming pools I just found out are not a place I function well at all, as there is no makeup, distinctive clothing, hairstyle etc. ). The unusual thing is that I hadn't been aware that some of the misidentifications I've been doing all along were not only confusing one specific person with another singular person, but often with several persons. The brain demands order, even if involves taking clues from both this person and that person. It keeps trying to patch some sort of identity on the subject you see.
3. I just spent an hour talking with "Fred" , someone I don't remember meeting before (and of course, notwithstanding my PPG, there ARE people I haven't met before. ) I went home and told my partner about my long interesting conversation with Fred and so forth. Another hour later we took a walk to sit at poolside and enjoy a mild evening. Fred was there also, however it took me 45 minutes of talking to HIM to realize it was Fred . He was wearing the same clothes, etc and was within 20 feet of where I saw him prior . But I originally talked with Fred indoors under bright light. I failed to recognize him under lamplight (certainly adequate for illumination, but a different sort of light effect). I'd even prepared to run into Fred again and my first question to myself, (upon seeing what I thought was another fellow) "could this be Fred ? The guy I just talked to earlier ? No, no way. This guy is younger and built sturdier, and has different color hair. " (All these 'handles' were altered by the lighting and I was sure, definately sure, it was a different person).
And so it goes, day after day. These are ordinary incidents for me, and I only illustrate them in detail for clarity .
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