Researchers at University College London have found that people may
suffer from a disorder that stops them from being able to recognise
hairstyles on people.
Researcher, Brad Duchaine, works with people with face blindness, who
use hair cuts and other visual cues to enable them to recognise faces
more easily. The fact that these people can recognise haircuts means
the brain recognises faces and hairstyles differently, meaning there
may be people who can recognise faces but not hairstyles.
Duchaine is yet to find anyone with the hair blindness condition, but
says it is likely to that they exist. "I'd love to find them, but we
haven't heard from anybody yet," says Duchaine.
Research undertaken by Duchaine has found that hair is not necessarily
regarded in the same way as facial features by the brain, but that
people do take a lot of notice of hair. Therefore, it seems that hair
can play a large part in recognition, and not just recognition of
strangers from a distance, but of familiar faces close-up.
So…next time your boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t notice your new hair cut…don’t get mad, they may be hair blind!