Sensitive or insensitive to nonverbal mannerisms?

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I voted 'completely oblivious.' I can spot these things if I am consciously looking for them and cross-reference them with what I have learned over the years regarding body language. However, I do not pick up on this stuff at all, if I am not consciously looking for it.

I voted sometimes.

When I'm looking at a still picture of someone, I can tell what emotion they are feeling to about a 75% accuracy.

In real conversation however, I tend to overlook some things and focus on other things a little too much and end up misjudging the situation.

There have been many times where I have assumed that I was making a person angry by the tone of their voice and apologized only to find that I was not. When I hear the 'cold' tone of voice, I assume that always means anger, when I suppose it could also just mean that the person is physically tired.

It's also difficult for me to tell whether or not people are being serious while they are speaking, so I end up faking a laugh and wait to see if they persist with the statement.

Facial expressions, (I believe either over or just under 400 of them, although my memory for numbers is very poor, so I could easily be mistaken, certainly there are hundreds though), hand gestures, body posture, and I think that tone of voice is also included.

I did not realize that I was deficient in interpreting and using non-verbal communication until I came to understand (simultaneously) that there are hundreds of meaningful facial expressions, and that descriptions (in books for instance) of one person giving a particular kind of look to another, or having a particular facial expression, were not merely hyperbolic literary license, but descriptions of meaningful facial expressions that others are quite capable of intentionally 'broadcasting' and accurately interpreting.....I am still somewhat taken aback by this discovery.

When I said, "What nonverbal mannerisms?" I was being sarcastic. I forgot to put in the little winky face.

What? Hundreds? You mean people understand each other's facial expressions like they do in books? It seems I have a lot to learn........

(PS Thanks for telling me!)

In-between 'seldom' and 'I'm completely oblivious'.

I recognise bigger smiles, laughs and tears on real faces.

Opposite to that, I can easily identify most/all expressions on photographs.

I was actually going to start a thread about this a while ago, but figured it had probably been discussed to death on here by now. Glad to see a newer thread.

I'm pretty sure I'm just ADHD, but as a kid I definitely had odd and very intense interests. Routines weren't quite my thing, though, except I had some weakly obsessive-compulsive traits regarding contamination, like people's bare feet and various hygiene issues. I'm still extremely hyper-hygienic, just not to quite that extreme.

I passed through lots of tests looking for PDD, which was ruled out. I made, and make, eye contact. But I was definitely very weird in a lot of other respects, especially social dress codes. I was a class clown.

I've always been able to read people to a degree so-called NTs (if I'm not grouped with them) can't, at least according to how they act. I've been seen as intimidating, nosy or creepy because I will often spot the first signs of someone's problems, and bring it out with accurate guess-work and maybe more. People's body language conveys a whole world of thoughts and feelings someone is having, from their posture to their gesticulation. Eyes are very expressive, and I used to almost be obsessed with how they could convey so much, and deceive people's true emotions.

I'm not completely sure, but I've read that the same area of the brain responsible for theory of mind is also responsible for precision mathematics. I score very high with theory of mind, but I'm cripplingly dyscalculic. In that way, I actually feel like I fit in with ASD, but instead of the cliche mathematical and semantic, routine mind, I got an excessively people-aware version. My obsession is people and connecting with them, like taking the normal social traits of women and blowing them out of proportion. I'm guessing there may be at least a handful of other women on here who have similar traits.

Any input?

I voted "sometimes/sometimes not": I usually rely on voice tone and can recognize it rather easy, previous experience and context of smalltalk; reading face expression (especially eyes) is less accurate in my case, it requires more attention, but is still sometimes useful.

NT's (especially women) do this intuitively, they do not have to specially learn a table of several hundred face expressions. I'm not so sensitive and can't "read people" from face accurately, but I think it is not hard to see basic emotions on face.

After contemplating a generous offering of "seldom", I had to go with the choice closer to my "almost never, unless they are grossly exaggerated, then I'll be right 1/3 of the time" reality. So I vote "completely oblivious".

I have recently learned of all of this "subspace chatter" that goes on. Truly interesting. However, if you actually want me to understand, then speak slowly and clearly, and please, one at a time only. Then you have a chance.