Facial recognition- It's not what they look like

This is probably the most confusing post I have created, experienced and hope I am not alone.

First I want to state and ask if you suffer the same thing.

I can't picture in my head any past evens in picture or video, but I know I was there, and roughly when. Example, I was about 3 years old, I was in the first house I lived in, I know there was a wall 4 bricks high and there was a loose one that I picked up but dropped it on my foot, I remember it didn't hurt, and after my foot went black. I can not imagine it as a picture memory or a video memory for sum unknown reason

The next thing, related to the first, I can't picture what my mum looks like, I only saw her a few hours ago, I can describe roughly what she looks like, until I see her again I have no idea, but with people that are say my auntie who I only see twice a year, lets say we come across her in a shop, I have no idea who she is, and I come across as rude for not saying hello, if I could picture her I should be able to recognise her

This not only happens with people but everything, this is where things get strange, we all sleep, and I dream about loved ones I have held close to my heart (and lost) nightly but my dreams are in picture/video format, it gets even stranger, as I can't picture them, my brain has made up of people who I have no idea who they are. A good example is my nan, lost her over 20 years ago, I have pictures of her everywhere and has dark hair, a tanned skin but my "dream nan" has white hair different face pail skin, (this lady was the best). I somehow know she is my nan, she talks like her etc... but my scenery is perfect. Let's say I dream about school, every detail of the school is correct it's just people, their faces, body size are all "fictional". Am I really dreaming about my loved ones?

i'm useless at visual recognition. take someone out of the context that i know them in and i won't have a clue who they are. it can be quite embarrassing. however dreams are symbolic. they're not necessarily a true representation of the waking world. in a dream, people are what we imagine them to be. let me put it this way: if you take a photograph of someone, that's them, however, if you paint their portrait, that's how you see them - it's your representation of them. in a dream, such representations can be quite divergent from reality. what matters is not the representation but the recognition. if you recognise them, that's them, whether it looks like them or not. as for aspects of dreams that lack context to the waking mind, that's not remotely uncommon. it means something to your subconscious mind, however, this something may simply not be accessible by your conscious mind. dreams are a way of making sense of reality. sometimes that making sense doesn't make sense. sometimes it's distorted. it's sort of like noise in a signal. it's there but it doesn't do anything useful. it probably doesn't help to get too concerned about such noise.

Oh okay, so it's a trait of autism or something general people have?

Any tips on how to recognise someone?

So I shouldn't feel bad, that I can't picture things in my awake mind, do you or anyone else have this problem, awake you only know of things no real memory as someone I know put it.

Do anyone else remember super early memories, my earliest memory is being bitten by a dog, I was about 15 months old.

I was later in life attacked by 2 huge dogs, so only liked my Labrador who passed away 5-6 weeks ago, now I don't like a single dog, due to past experiences

weird dreams are a symptom of dreaming, not a symptom of autism. that said, your medication may be a factor in this. morphine is a hallucinogen drug.

as for recognising someone, try to pay attention to them and absorb as much of who they are, how they appear, sound, even dress.

i was bitten by a terrier when i was young, however, i don't have any conscious memory of the incident, though it does seem to have left me with a dislike of dogs.

I try that... went Christmas food shopping yesterday with my mum, where I she left me to look at clothes, while I got cheese. I found it really hard to refind my mum, even though the cheese isle is opposite the clothing section I normally phone, but my phone was dead, and I couldnt remember what she was wearing.