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Fun Brain Information

El Greco said:
There are all kinds of unusual cases of brain damage in PBS's and BBC's series of documentaries about the brain. Including people who are blind *except* when something is moving, people who suffer from roughly the opposite (failure to recognize movement), people who have some kind of unilateral blindness, prosopagnosia (which they describe being like a normal person seeing faces of chimps and then trying to recognize who's who, the guy can't even recognize his own photo), a more dramatic damage that makes recognition of objects impossible (you have to see this), another case that the center of "familiarity" has been damaged (he sees his own parents but he thinks they're just look-alikes and not his real parents), cases of extremely poor memory, total changing of personality during the transitional stages of degenerative brain diseases, others who can't understand the meaning of complex sentences even though they know all the words, phantom pain and phantom senses and a lot more I don't remember right now. There are also the brain and mind teaching modules which are short downloadable videos about a lot of subjects relevant to brain pathology and physiology.
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wow
 
I can't recognize faces. My wife, for years, thought I was just being lazy. It's extremely hard to follow movies (which is why I prefer fantasy movies where the characters aren't human). My wife started to believe me when we were at a fair and I pointed out a girl that had a college shirt on and I mentioned to my wife that she went to the same college as I did. My wife was astounded because the girl wearing the college shirt was my own daughter and I simply failed to recognize her at all. People I work with used to think I was rude because I would walk by them in the mall without saying hello but they now kinda understand me.

Anyway, as of yet, the only backlash so far has been that people think I'm rude or withdrawn because I never start a conversation nor can I ever put a name on people. Once someone starts talking to me I recognize them (by other means) but I can't even count the number of times I've started a conversation only to realize the person I'm talking to isn't the person I thought they were. People just think it's a gee-wiz kind of thing, like seeing someone with an extra finger or something.

I guess the worst time was getting in an argument over the waiter at a restaurant only to find out I got the wrong waiter in trouble. Those are the times I wish things were different.
 
Starthinker said:
I can't recognize faces. My wife, for years, thought I was just being lazy. It's extremely hard to follow movies (which is why I prefer fantasy movies where the characters aren't human). My wife started to believe me when we were at a fair and I pointed out a girl that had a college shirt on and I mentioned to my wife that she went to the same college as I did. My wife was astounded because the girl wearing the college shirt was my own daughter and I simply failed to recognize her at all. People I work with used to think I was rude because I would walk by them in the mall without saying hello but they now kinda understand me.

Anyway, as of yet, the only backlash so far has been that people think I'm rude or withdrawn because I never start a conversation nor can I ever put a name on people. Once someone starts talking to me I recognize them (by other means) but I can't even count the number of times I've started a conversation only to realize the person I'm talking to isn't the person I thought they were. People just think it's a gee-wiz kind of thing, like seeing someone with an extra finger or something.

I guess the worst time was getting in an argument over the waiter at a restaurant only to find out I got the wrong waiter in trouble. Those are the times I wish things were different.
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Have you discussed this with medical professionals?
 
Dave1001 said:
Have you discussed this with medical professionals?
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My private brain care specialist (i.e., my doctor) is aware of this but there is not much that can be done. I'm already 42 so whenever a memory trick is shown to me I've probably already seen it and tried it. Like I said, it's not debilitating and I seem to recognize other things just fine. As a classic car nut I can usually name a make of car by seeing a picture of half a tail light. I take signs to airports when picking people up and so far I've never witnessed a crime where I've had to pick someone out of a line up so it really doesn't bother me. It bothers my family more than it does me but now I'm more the butt of jokes than a cause for concern.

As for a cause, I've been this way for as long as I can remember. As a kid I did have a bad bike accident where I was knocked out but I don't know if there is a way to tell if this is from a trauma or if it's something I was born with. I have had MRIs and other scans for something unrelated but everything was normal, at least nothing jumped out at them. If I ever become rich or maybe if the Mayo Clinic (30 minutes away) needs a volunteer for a study or something I may have it looked at more closely, but as of right now, it's the way I've always been and I can't imagine being any other way.
 
Starthinker said:
I can't recognize faces. My wife, for years, thought I was just being lazy. It's extremely hard to follow movies (which is why I prefer fantasy movies where the characters aren't human). My wife started to believe me when we were at a fair and I pointed out a girl that had a college shirt on and I mentioned to my wife that she went to the same college as I did. My wife was astounded because the girl wearing the college shirt was my own daughter and I simply failed to recognize her at all. People I work with used to think I was rude because I would walk by them in the mall without saying hello but they now kinda understand me.
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Was this always the case? I mean, how did your wife not know while you were dating? I get in trouble for not noticing a hair cut. Not recognizing her would be...well.
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joobz said:
Was this always the case? I mean, how did your wife not know while you were dating? I get in trouble for not noticing a hair cut. Not recognizing her would be...well.
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I did tell her while dating but I don't think she really believed it until later. She, like everyone else, just thought I was rude, forgetful, and withdrawn. She also thought I was using it as an excuse to not be social. I can draw on other cues when I need to, so I do, for the most part, recognize my own wife in a crowd, but in the case of not recognizing my own daughter it was because she was out of context. Since I didn't expect her to be at the same fair I was at I wasn't looking for cues. I saw the college shirt, which even used to be mine, but it still didn't make the connection for me. Had I seen her in my front yard then the cues would have fallen into place I would have recognize her. Or even if I had saw her at school or at work. It's all in the context of where I see a person. At an airport, for example, if I'm picking up my wife, who I've known for 22 years now, I can usually spot her. If she changes her hair or wears new clothes then, yes, I may miss her on the first or second pass but I'll eventually spot her. If I'm picking up a co-worker that I don't know very well, forget it, I'll make a sign.

My wife is head of admissions for a small college and networks at city events and is on various boards and things and no matter where we go she can point out 5 or 6 people and remember where she met them before, what they do, and who they know or are related to. She can even recognize students that she's had years ago. I thought people like this were utterly amazing until I started to realize that this was more the norm than I was.
 
To me, the most fascinating thing about the brain is that it finds anything fascinating.

It's a hunk of electric meat capable of realizing (among other things) that it has traits and behaviors that are mysterious to itself.

I've had problems with short-term memory for as long as I can remember (haw haw). The things I can & do easily remember are astounding in light of the things I can't. For example, I can remember every phone number I've ever had, the telephone numbers of classmates I haven't seen in 20+ years, account numbers, part numbers, etc. I can hear a melody of nearly any complexity and correctly play it back from memory (at least to the degree that my facility with the guitar is adequate).

On the other hand, I have a very difficult time remembering names (it may take me weeks to learn a new employee's name, although I will remember their initials), I'm extremely bad at remembering routes between places until I've driven it dozens of times. Sometimes I'll be on my way to work and suddenly my surroundings don't look at all familiar; I'll have a momentary feeling that I've spaced out and missed an exit or a turn somewhere until I see a road sign.

I also cannot do much more than the very simplest math in my head. When I try, I just completely blank out. It's like trying to smell sunlight.
 
Dave,

Might I suggest a great book "Why Zebras don't get ulcers"

It describes the different effects that stress has on your brain. There is tons of great 'did you know' information along the way and written in a very witty fashion. A page turner for a science book and a grea read.
 
There's an art reference book called The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression, which breaks most, if not all, expressions down to variations of a basic six.

It was invaluable for getting the subtlety of an expression just right, and understanding how the underlying muscles create those, and I have been able to apply it to living subjects as well.
 
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