Notes on Oliver Sacks, on Prosopagnosia

Today while on a train I caught up on some reading, including the August 30 issue of the New Yorker. I learned about prosopagnosia – the inability to recognize faces and some aspects of place/orientation.

The information came through a typically curious article by Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, author – of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat fame – and New Yorker, whom I met briefly one day in a class at Columbia University. Unabashedly, Sacks details his own mishaps in recognizing people he’s met and finding his way; it’s a life-long, inherited affliction that requires he remember individuals by things other than how they look. Half-generously, the magazine provides non-subscribers a detailed abstract of Face Blind that’s far less charming than the original piece but relatively rich in the medical details:

Severe congenital prosopagnosia is estimated to affect two to two and a half per cent of the population—six to eight million people in the United States alone.

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Hard to believe? yes. Interesting? yes. Will Dr. Sacks recognize me if we meet again? Unlikely –

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