How observant are you? If you were called to be an eye witness/identify somebody in an identity parade would you go to pieces? (Lighthearted.)

[KnopkaPixie]

This is my worst nightmare. I have been known to hold a conversation with an old friend whom I hadn't seen for a few months for over half an hour then suddenly blurt out, "You've got a beard!" It was a big bushy beard as well.

Under pressure, I could never say whether it was a red car or a green car, where I was at 3pm on Monday the 28th of September 2022...

I'm a patsy in the making!

I once told a police officer I'd be able to do this, which led to the thief confessing. Truth was I wouldn't be able to pick out my own mother as I struggle with face blindness.

I would be useless. I have face blindness. I can't even follow a film if it's lots of men in suits.
I once accosted someone in town who I thought was an aquaintance because they had similar hair to my actual aquaintance.

I have actual nightmares about not being able to describe someone who has committed a crime.

Is it software now and not a sketch artist like they have in TV shows?

I too would be useless at faces and like @Sortumn find it difficult to follow films if people aren't dressed distinctively or have similar haircuts.

But I'm great at remembering what people say so partner me with someone who can do the visual stuff and I could probably repeat with reasonable accuracy what was said.

Yes I am so good at recognising bit-part actors on TV when I’m concentrating but generally like some other posters I walk round in a daze so probably not so good in person!

If I see an incident where I know in advance I’ll be asked, I can take a mental snapshot.if it’s just a random person probably won’t notice.

I’d be useless.

To put it into context, I once had a long conversation with Pete the finance officer at work, in his office.

I then went straight down to the main office to use the photocopier. There was a guy using it, and I knew his face, but couldn’t place him for the life of me. It was bugging me so much I moved closer so I could read his lanyard.

It was Pete the Finance Officer.

I am not sure if he credible. In the immediate aftermath of any kind of conflict I go completely blank. So if we're asked then I'd be a total plank. However, after a few hours the details come back to me in sharp clarity so I think I'd look like I was making things up to suit.

@catkatcatkat
This was a few years ago.
It took well over an hour.
You looked at every feature of the face separately so started with shape, squareness of jaw, shape of eyes, spacing of eyes nose and mouth, literally everything.. you could keep tweaking. it was fascinating to watch and I felt like I would love to try to recreate someone I knew well.
Much better than a sketch.