Brad Pitt Says He Has Something Called "Face Blindness"

[Initech]

1. Pitt won't recognize you

Pitt told Esquire that he has such a hard time remembering the faces of those he meets, he thinks he might suffer from prosopagnosia, or face blindness, though he has not been tested or diagnosed with the disorder. We're not sure whether the actor was being facetious or not, but he said even having a "real conversation" doesn't help.
Brad Pitt's possible medical condition

"So many people hate me because they think I'm disrespecting them," Pitt told the magazine. "I took one year where I just said, This year, I'm just going to cop to it and say to people, 'OK, where did we meet?' But it just got worse. People were more offended. ...You get this thing, like, 'You're being egotistical. You're being conceited.' But it's a mystery to me, man. I can't grasp a face, and yet I come from such a design/aesthetic point of view. I am going to get it tested."

(For more on face blindness, check out this 2011 video of CNN's Sanjay Gupta speaking with Dr. Oliver Sacks, a famed neurologist who has face blindness. Occasionally, Sacks said he had trouble recognizing his own face.)

On Thursday, Carnegie Mellon University invited Pitt to have his brain imaged and be examined by Marlene Behrmann, a neuroscientist, professor of psychology and a member of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition within the university's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

"Carnegie Mellon is one of the very few places that can both test for face blindness and perform the brain imaging in our state-of-the-art imaging center," Behrmann said in a press release.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/23/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/brad-pitt-esquire-face-blindness/index.html

[arcane1]

1. It's a fascinating topic. Oliver Sacks has studied and written a lot about it

VS Ramachandran has as well. I love reading about this stuff

[rocktivity]

2. Between her double mascetomy and his possible dementia

its no wonder that Angelina and Brad haven't gotten around to getting married.


rocktivity

[mainer]

3. He has my sympathy. He meets so many people

and he has to struggle to remember their names. I understand his pain completely.

[applegrove]

4. I'm not good with faces. Sometimes people say hi to me and I say hi. I don't always know if I know

them or not. Sometimes I think I may know them but I can't confirm for sure. I say hi anyways when people say hi to me. Sometimes people who I recognize I do not say hi to because they have not recognized me and I'm passive. I have some form of face blindness but I'm not quite sure how much. I don't mind it. Sometimes I just damwell don't need to talk to some people I recognize. It would traumatize me. I was brought up to be conscientious to the point that being wrong about recognizing someone is worse to me than not saying hi.

[Javaman]

5. Sounds like a brilliant scheme for dealing with crazy fans...

"sorry, dude, I have face blindness, so I don't remember me saying hi to you 3 years ago when I ran past you when I was jogging with my wife".

[Mopar151]

6. I always thought it was my partying days

Back when I did "My share, your share, and his share". I do meet a lot of people..... but it seems inevitable that I'll run into someone who remembers me like a long-lost cousin, but I just can't place 'em. Usually, a name or place will bring something back.

[refrescanos]

7. I believe

This might explain a situation I had with someone where they growled about he explained things at the meeting.
I wasn't at that meeting. It was with a small group of people. I had noticed he did not seem to make much eye contact with anyone...maybe he has this and doesn't know it.

[TrogL]

8. I've got everybody trained

If you meet me somewhere in a different context, introduce yourself and tell me the context where I know you.

My naturist group gets a kick out of it. They say "you'd recognize me without clothes".

[truegrit44]

9. I don't think I have it as bad as him however.......

I am really bad with faces and names. I swear I can sit across from someone and talk to them for an hour and if someone asks me were they wearing glasses or what color hair did they have I have no idea. I would never want to pick someone out of a line up or remember what someone looked like if I witnessed a crime!

Now animals, totally different if I see a dog I can tell you breed, exactly what is markings are and remember his name. I guess I am truly NOT a people person!