When I was in college, in my senior year, I wrote a letter to the editor of our school newspaper. I had attended some of my friends' graduation the previous spring, which was dominated by a crushingly boring speech by an alumnus no one had heard of. With ours coming up, I was hoping the class officers could do something to make the ceremony a little less boring. I suggested trying to get an interesting speaker, and not limiting the search to alumni of our very small school, but trying for famous people like other schools were able to get.

There aren't that many things I have in common with Brad Pitt. We are both white American humans. We both lived in Missouri as kids. We both have even spent time at the University of Missouri at Columbia - I spent a few weeks there during a summer camp for high school nerds, and he attended college there. They told us that he left just a few weeks shy of graduating! And also, even though he is super famous and I have seen some of his movies, I can't recognize Brad Pitt's face. Turns out, he probably wouldn't be able to recognize mine, if he met me, either.

It can be alarming to discover you have an issue that can be traced to your brain! Many people's instinct is to set up a doctor's appointment as soon as possible. But before you start googling neurologists, take a breath - that may not be necessary!

Is this a new problem?

If your trouble recognizing faces is in any way a new phenomenon, please get to a doctor right away. You have acquired prosopagnosia, which could be a symptom of a brain injury like a stroke or TIA. That does require medical attention!

Since the pandemic, many people learning about prosopagnosia immediately ask about how masks have affected us. And I think for most of us, the first instinct is to say that they have been a big help.