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United States24615 Posts
When I see somebody in the corner of my eye or from far away I often think to myself "oh, I recognize them." I look closer and determine who it is (usually it is someone I recognize, occasionally I was wrong, which isn't surprising).
What's weird is that I am able to tell that I recognize someone before I can say who it is. Often, I will preliminarily come to the conclusion that it is person X, and then I realize a few moments later (upon closer inspection) that it's actually person Y, another person that I know.
I was discussing why this happens with some people I know. It's kinda complicated how the brain works regarding stuff like this so I'm wondering if people here have any expertise in this area and could shed some light and explain it a bit...
I think this also happens when I hear people's voices, not just by looking at them. It just seems like I should be able to tell who it is just as quickly as I can tell that I recognize them...
Poll: Does this happen to you also?Yes, this happens to me also! (18) 67% No, doesn't or rarely ever happens (5) 19% Maybe/Neutral/Not sure (4) 15% 27 total votes Your vote: Does this happen to you also? (Vote): Yes, this happens to me also!
(Vote): Maybe/Neutral/Not sure
(Vote): No, doesn't or rarely ever happens
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i'm sorry but does the third option count for if you have bad eyes? or would bad eyes fall under the category of just plain old no
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The brain works via many pathways and a large part of the brain is actually devoted to facial recognition. Facial recognition is usually what we use to put names on people. The temporal lobe in the brain helps us with facial recognition. If your temporal lobe were removed (like in the patient H.M.) then you will be unable to recognize faces. People who cannot recognize faces often look at the forehead/hairline to identify people instead. Others will look at the necklines.
High order processes occurs in the cortex, but lower level processing occurs in the thalamus before it enters the cortex. What happens is when you initially look at someone, you probably cannot see their face very clearly or at all. However, since it is someone you know, you may recognize their build, hair, way they walk, or way they speak. Your brain knows that you know it, but usually it requires a conscious effort to recognize someone and associate them with a name if you are unable to see their face. If you see their face, then you are able to quickly or almost instantly/unconsciously recognize someone by name. The face is where we place most emphases on identification given a set of visual information.
We are primarily visual beings. If we see a dog but the dog meows like a cat, we are still more inclined to believe that the animal is a dog and not a cat. We place our sense of vision above all other senses and we believe our eyes the most, that's why we say "seeing is believing" However, certain animals may be auditory beings or beings who rely on smell. (bats, dogs etc). For them, smelling or hearing is believing. As far as people go, we see better than most (I say most) animals, but our sense of hearing or smell is horrendous compared to almost all other animals. because of this, we inherently rely on our sight to relay us the truth. That is why when you hear a voice, a lower level process occurs and you know its someone you know, but until you see it your brain will not take priority to identify it. Your brain has to make a conscience effort to actually say okay this voice... this is so and so's voice and they look like this... so this person is PROBABLY so and so. If you saw the person (especially the face) you would say okay this is so and so generally without any effort.
This occurs because the pathways which link the visual areas are directly associated with our recognition of persona. All the other senses are not directly linked to recognition, but rather are processes and then analyzed in areas in the cortex known as association areas. The association areas is where your sense of smell or hearing causes you to associate it with a visual object in your head.
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United States24615 Posts
Thank you AppleTart that was very interesting and seems to make sense based on my personal observations.
spec. opps, I think you should pick 'no' unless your vision is so bad that you generally can't recognize people at all... in which case pick neutral I guess? Not sure how to approach this.
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Happens to everyone probably.
If you become aware that you recognize a person, but don't know who the person is you can make an educated guess of who that person you see is. Even though you don't have a direct visual of the person you can tell who they are by the way they are walking, what kinda of clothing they are wearing, or other small things like that from far away. The brain probably unconsciously tells you that you know the person by how they act from far away, it might just take you a while to narrow it down.
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There was a documentary on Prosopagnosia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia) that I saw on Discovery a long time ago. Basically there was a women who couldn't identify people's faces, but learned to identify them by how they acted, the type of clothing they wore, their voice, ect.
Was interesting. 
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I think it's been proven that babies can't clearly see shit when they are new. They just get a general distinction of familiar shapes and sounds. Eventually as their senses get better, they can get more focused and specific with their eyes and ears.
Same thing here resonating imo.
something to do with this as well? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
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EPT
