What is Memory for Faces?

Memory for faces is the ability to remember how familiar people look. 

Some children find it challenging to recall names or recognize faces, which can be linked to attention, memory, cognitive, or social development.

Understanding How We See Faces

Research on eye movements shows that typically, when we encounter a new face, our eyes focus on the eyes, nose, and mouth. However, some individuals process faces differently, looking at areas like the chin or forehead, or even away from the face. This research is helping us identify early markers for children who might benefit from early therapies and supports, particularly those with a neurotype like autism.

Difficulty remembering faces can also stem from how we pay attention to our environment. Sometimes, faces or other visual information don’t capture a child’s attention or stick in their memory. For some, processing faces or emotions isn’t as intuitive as processing other details. Visual memory is crucial here—it’s the ability to remember things by looking at them. Challenges with visual memory can make games like “memory” difficult or hinder the recognition of familiar people and family photos.

Signs Your Child Might Be Struggling

• Difficulty recognizing familiar faces: They might get confused if someone they know changes their hairstyle or wears glasses.
• Not recalling what someone looks like: Saying things like, “I can’t recall that face. Have I met her before?”
• Forgetting peers: Not recognizing children they’ve been with all year in class or at social events.
• Distraction when meeting new people: Spacing out, hiding, or walking away during introductions, or getting lost in large groups.
• Avoiding eye contact: Looking away when greeted.
• Remembering facts but not faces: Easily recalling complex facts (e.g., Pi to 30th place, sea lion facts) but struggling to remember classmates.

Why Some Children Struggle with Facial Recognition

• Differences in social engagement: A child may not be as socially engaged, leading to less focus on names or faces. This can be seen in situations like not remembering teammates after a whole season.
• Challenges with perspective-taking and empathy: Difficulty understanding others’ thoughts or motives, which can lead to confusing people (e.g., a librarian for a principal).
• Visual memory challenges: Difficulty remembering what they see, impacting recognition of people, pictures, or landmarks.
• Attention challenges: Problems with attention can affect visual memory, as details may go unnoticed.
• Episodic memory challenges: Difficulty remembering recent events, which can make it hard to recall faces associated with those events.
• Cognitive processing differences: Deficits in learning and memory, affecting visual encoding or auditory processing.
• Unique social cognition: Not understanding the thoughts, motives, and perspectives of others.
• Brain Injury: Past brain injuries, such as concussions, can impact attention, information processing (prefrontal cortex), memory, and facial recognition (temporal lobe).
• Personality Traits: An introverted personality might mean less social engagement, making it harder to remember peers’ names.

Ways to Support Your Child

• Visual aids and labeled pictures: Use labeled photos of family and friends and review them together.
• Class yearbook: Display a class photo with names to help your child learn and remember their peers.
• Develop a subtle cue system: Create a secret signal to discreetly remind your child who a person is.

When to Seek Professional Guidance

If your child consistently struggles to make friends, seems confused or frustrated in social interactions, or exhibits any of the following, it might be beneficial to seek help:

• Claims to have many friends but can’t provide details about them.
• Knows friends’ physical traits (height, eye color) but not their names, or can’t recognize them.
• Doesn’t remember classmates they’ve worked with for years.
• Dominates conversations or lectures without assessing if others are listening.
• Rarely asks about others or struggles with back-and-forth conversations.

Further Resources

• Neurologist: To investigate brain-based causes for severe visual memory deficits, ruling out conditions like seizures.
• Psychologist or Neuropsychologist: For a comprehensive assessment to understand symptoms within mental health and behavioral contexts.
• School Psychologist: To determine learning needs and explore support plans like an IEP, 504 plan, or RTI.

Related Considerations

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Challenges with attention, distractibility, impulsivity, and processing speed can impact learning and engagement, affecting facial recognition.
• Autism Spectrum Neurotype: Research suggests individuals with an autism neurotype may experience more difficulty recalling faces, making this a key consideration if your child struggles to remember friends’ names or faces.
• Brain Injury: Damage to specific brain regions can lead to memory challenges, including facial recognition.
• Learning Disability (Educationally Identified Disabilities): Learning problems, memory deficits, or inefficient cognitive processing can contribute to difficulties remembering faces.
• Major Depression: Depressed mood or pervasive irritability in children can lead to apathy, disengagement, and memory difficulties.

Book Resources

• Barkley, Russell A. (2013). Taking charge of ADHD, 4th edition: The complete, authoritative guide for parents.
• Grandin, Temple. (2006). Thinking in Pictures, Expanded edition: My life with autism.
• Higbee, Kenneth. (2008). Your Memory: How it works and how to improve it.
• Kroncke, Willard, & Huckabee (2016). Assessment of autism spectrum neurotype: Critical issues in clinical, forensic, and school settings.
• Lorayne, Harry & Lucas, Jerry (2012). The Memory Book: A classic guide to improving your memory at work, school, and play.
• Ozonoff, Sally & Dawson, Geraldine & McPartland, James C. (2014). A parent’s guide to high-functioning autism spectrum neurotype: How to meet the challenges and help your child thrive.