Oliver Sacks, Chuck Close & a Quiz

After encountering interviews with both Chuck Close and Oliver Sacks twice this week, I sought out a quiz on face blindness (prosopagnosia). Here are two quizzes, one with celebrities, one with anonymous computer-generated faces. Although I knew I wasn’t remotely face blind, I was surprised to score 100% on the celebrity quiz & 97% on the other one–I usually think of myself as crap at remembering people. But that’s not entirely true. I’m constantly recognizing people, but I can never remember context or names (though typically I have a sense of whether or not I like them). So I guess my memory’s spotty, but my actual face recognition is good.

I remember watching a Chuck Close documentary years ago, but somehow, I didn’t remember that he was face blind (which seems an obvious takeaway, given his art).