Sofie Jackson was well aware that she struggled more than most to identify people by their facial features. However, it wasn’t until she was tested by researchers at the University of York that the journalist was diagnosed with face blindness.
The condition affects 1.5 million people in the UK and is also known as prosopagnosia. Those with the condition often use other methods to identify people, such as remembering their hairstyle, clothing, or the way they walk.
Sofie explained to Hull Live how her inability to recognise people’s faces has mainly led to ‘hilarious misunderstandings’ and how she felt to have her brain scanned in an MRI as a participant of a scientific study on people with the condition...
Recently, I had it confirmed to me that I have a brain.
This came as a surprise because my older brother has always claimed it's a hamster wheel squeaking around in my skull instead. But, as you can see from these pictures, a brain it clearly is, with squiggly bits, spongey bits, and not a screw in sight.
My brain is likely a bit different from other people's because I have something called face blindness and I really struggle to identify people by their facial features. Because of this, I was able to take part in a study at The University of York.
According to the NHS, people with face blindness can experience depression and social isolation. Luckily, my face blindness has only caused hilarious misunderstandings and difficulty following films if characters change clothes.
In the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, I was unable to tell the difference between Will (Matt Damon) and Chuckie (Ben Affleck). Any film with multiple male leads is a real struggle; at least women tend to have more variation in hairstyles.
Recently, I totally ignored a colleague when she walked past me in a shopping centre and I only found out weeks later. Another time, I was at a friend's party and sat across the table from someone I knew without recognising them for two hours. The penny only dropped because their mannerisms and posture were so familiar — and then I had to apologise for being so weird.
Perhaps most unforgettable was the time I waiting for my husband outside a busy tube station in London. He was running fifteen minutes late so I amused myself with people-watching and was drawn to a man wearing a bright red jacket.
The man caught my eye and approached me and — you guessed it — it was my husband. I nearly leapt out my skin when he got within half a metre from my face and said my name. Something as simple as a jacket I've never seen before completely foxes me.
Out of curiosity more than anything I did a basic online quiz which indicated I might have face blindness. It was later I saw information about the University of York study on a Reddit post. I got in touch and a researcher sent me further tests to complete online and it was confirmed I likely had some degree of face blindness or, to use its proper term, prosopagnosia.
And so, on a sunny day in July, I visited York's department of psychology and hopped into the giant MRI machine. As strange as it sounds, the first thing that struck me was how comfy it was to lie inside.
I've had an MRI at a hospital before but, on this occasion, I was given a blanket and by the time I was wrapped up it felt like I was in a cocoon. If I wasn't concentrating on the study, I could easily have easily dozed off for a few hours.
While in the scanner, I had to watch a TV show with a very large cast while also lying really still to make sure the images of my brain would be as clear as possible. I wore a headset to communicate with the researchers in the next room and had a button in my hand so I could stop the test if I ever felt uncomfortable.
I find MRI scans strangely relaxing rather than claustrophobic so the test was pretty enjoyable for me and the time flew by. There is a steady clunking noise as the machine works — which some people find frightening — but to my ear, it's like a washing machine full of heavy towels.
The research has not been published yet but I look forward to finding out what they discovered. For now, I'm just glad my brain looks so unremarkable. If you want to check if you might have face blindness you can take a test here.
