Jenny Parry, 54, started experiencing hyperfamiliarity for faces (HFF) after a particularly bad migraine in 2019
A woman has opened up about her rare brain condition which causes her to believe that everyone she encounters – including complete strangers – are known to her. When Jenny Parry, 54, steps outside, heads to her local high street, or pops into a shop, café, or cinema, she is overwhelmed by an intense feeling that she recognises every face she sees.
This is due to an extraordinarily rare neurological disorder known as hyperfamiliarity for faces (HFF), in which unfamiliar people appear strikingly recognisable to her. Jenny is thought to be among just a small number of people across Britain living with the condition, which scientists are still working to fully comprehend.
The mum-of-one, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, revealed that the condition first emerged seven years ago in the Autumn of 2019, triggered by a severe migraine she experienced while out walking with her daughter at Painswick Rococo Garden, in Gloucestershire.
According to Jenny, the very next person she laid eyes on she “instantly recognised”. The zookeeper describes the phenomenon as her brain “generating fake memories” when she looks at the faces of complete strangers, as though they were close friends.
These fabricated recollections suggest that strangers were once colleagues, dining companions, or even fellow holidaymakers. However, Jenny has disclosed that the condition has now left her unable to look at people’s faces for fear of being left “embarrassed”. She explained: “I had begun suffering a strong migraine on my usual right and side, but then it spread to the left. And I haven’t been the same since.
“After the headache, the next person I saw I thought I recognised them and I smiled, when really I had never met them before. It has affected my self-esteem on many occasions throughout the years, leaving me now unable to look at people’s faces.
“This one time I was convinced I knew this woman from my old business as a circus choreographer. I had memories that we had spent a lot of time together and that I had been training her for years. I crossed the road and tapped her on the shoulder but she just looked at me bluntly.
“I apologised and went into my friend’s nearby cafe and burst into tears as I was so embarrassed. Doctors don’t know if the migraine caused the change to my brain or if my brain caused the migraine, it is all a big mystery.
“Now my brain fires off these fake memories when I look at people’s faces. My brain tells me I have been to the pub, to a concert, or on holiday when I see them, as if we had spent quality time together.
“But it can also feel very lonely at times because when I’m in a big crowd of people, I feel like I’m the only one there, as if I look around, I feel totally overwhelmed. At first, it was unsettling, people have been freaked out and thought I was crazy, but now I am learning to take control.”
Jenny described herself as “healthy and confident” before the unexpected headache that would change her life forever. She recalled feeling “unnerved” after returning to her Yorkshire home, when she believed she recognised everybody at a petrol station while filling up her vehicle.
She explained: “I stood at the petrol station and I was thinking to myself ‘I’ve only lived here for a couple of years, but I know so many people’. It gave me this really warm feeling. But then over the next couple of days, I became really unnerved by it and that’s when I decided to do some research.”
In the years since, Jenny has experienced several “embarrassing” encounters with complete strangers which have left her “mentally ruined”. She revealed: “I would see someone and have really strong memories and make a beeline for them. But when I would stop them and introduce myself they would look at me funny and walk away as if I was some crazy woman.
“I would always feel so shell-shocked afterwards and it would affect me for days – I can see how people who suffer with HHF can become introverted.”
She explained it had also impacted her previous role working on reception at a well-known Yorkshire attraction, which she prefers not to identify. Jenny shared: “It was my first job after I had suffered the migraine.
“I was put on reception and I was told that because it was so expensive, customers are allowed to come and go throughout the day. When I ask if they would have a stamp on their hand so I would know they just told me to ‘look at their faces’ and I would know if they had been in or not.
“But when they came up to the counter, I recognised everyone unless they said otherwise and just let them in. I probably lost them a few quid that day.”
Through her investigations, Jenny discovered Professor Brad Duchaine at Dartmouth University in the USA, an expert in HFF research. Subsequently, neuroscientists at the University of York, working alongside Dartmouth University, examined her brain and believe they’ve identified the precise cause of the condition.
Scientists employed neuroimaging to track Jenny’s brain activity while she watched clips of the television series Game of Thrones, which she had never seen before. Her results were then measured against two control groups – dedicated fans of the show and individuals completely unfamiliar with the characters.
The findings showed that despite the faces being entirely unknown to her, the activity in Jenny’s hippocampus – a brain region crucial for memory – closely mirrored that of the long-term fans. Researchers now believe the condition stems from an altered connection in the brain between the visual parts and the medial temporal lobe. While Jenny’s visual processing and memory function perfectly normally, the link between the two has become hyperactive, continuously triggering a false sense of familiarity.
Professor Tim Andrews, senior researcher from the Department of Psychology at the University of York, explained: “Our findings show that Jenny’s basic face-processing system is perfectly intact.
“The problem arises because the communication between her visual system and her memory system has become exaggerated. Her brain is essentially sending a powerful signal that she knows a person when it should be silent.”
Jenny has spoken openly about how the condition has profoundly altered her day-to-day life, leaving her unable to make eye contact with those around her. She said: “I can’t really engage with people anymore.
“I have to make the condition work for me, and to do so I have to control when I look at people’s faces. I now look for cues like rings, hair length, or their dog, which I use to recognise that person.
“I have had to train my friends, as if we are going to a restaurant, we have to be really organised, getting places on time, they have to wear a bright piece of clothing or wave erratically at me so I know it is them. It has been difficult, but I had to make a positive change as otherwise I could snowball.” Jenny, who currently works as a zookeeper at Filey Zoo, has praised her colleagues for being incredibly supportive of her condition. She has even described it as a “superpower”, as it gives her a boost of confidence when delivering keeper talks to visitors.
The animal enthusiast explained: “Now I just take one quick glance around and it is as if I am talking to my friends. If you could bottle up my condition, it could cure social anxiety.”
She added: “I can see why so many people who suffer from the condition become a shell of who they were. It can be so demoralising when you speak to someone and they have no idea what you are talking about. But I have learnt to take control and try my best to live as normally as possible.”
