Are mental blanks normal?

I've had this kind of weird hyper-awareness with words that some folks have mentioned -- mostly if I use it a lot, actually. Like stamping "Wyoming" on a bunch of books and having this feeling that "Wyoming" must be the weirdest word ever. Nothing to do with forgetting people, though. I do know a guy who forgot how to sit down, once.

If you look at a word for a long time, it ceases to have its usual meaning, becomes just an odd shape, and you can't even tell whether it's spelled correctly anymore. This is normal. I have also had something similar happen with pictures of people, particularly famous ones, if I look at them for a long time. I remember this happening to me with a picture of Tom Selleck in a magazine once -- after I looked long enough I began to be unsure it was actually Selleck. It went away when I looked at another picture for a moment and then came back to his.

Another vote here for "I have that with words but never people."

I have this with faces - specifically images on screen or paper. If I look for a while, a kind of disconnect happens, and I see all the features separately and it all seems very strange. Then the whole image is restored (i.e. it seems to be a face again, rather than a jumble of features, though nothing seems to move when I have this disconnect)... it is odd. The word thing I can understand, under the influence of tiredness, but the face thing is just weird.

This used to happen to me a lot more often before I started taking medication for panic attacks. I'm pretty sure that it's not something to worry too much about--to me, it sounds like a bit of derealization/depersonalization. When I told my psychiatrist about those symptoms, he didn't seem surprised or worried and said it was really common with depersonalization. If you google that disorder, I think you might find that your symptoms match. The only difference for me is that the feeling bugs me quite a bit. I find it really unsettling. I should note that it's not a really intense feeling--just a sort of strange moment of things seeming unfamiliar.

Maybe you could read some of the works of Dr. Oliver Sacks and see if you recognize yourself in any of his descriptions? I think it would be a good idea to at least mention this to a doctor, since obviously none of us on this board can diagnose you (and any actual neurologists reading this would not be able to answer for legal reasons). As for my own personal anecdotal experience, I have been able to do the thing with repeating a word until it becomes unfamiliar, or shift my thinking so that the streets I walk down every day feel like a new city, but what you are describing sounds like a different-colored animal from that kind of thing.

As for words, I have this as well at times and I should add that when it happens, the word in question also seems suddenly very silly. It's as if the word 'falls apart' and breaks down into a random collection of letters. After a few seconds I 'piece the word back together again'. Still, it happens only rarely, and I can't remember ever having this experience with regards to people (perhaps if we're very loosely acquainted, but not family or otherwise close).

I've slept on it, and perhaps can articulate myself better now, thanks to your great answers. It's more a "emotions taking time to catch up" feeling. It tends to happen with photos a lot more, as someone else said above, but is not exclusive to them. I logically know who the person is, but do not feel I "know" them (emotionally). Shortly thereafter, it's like the emotional memory hard drive has spun back up again and it comes back. However, I feel there's probably a bit depersonalization going on as well. I have strong control over my emotions and have become very trained at not feeling negative ones, so this may be a cause of slightly faulty emotional memory :) I'm not concerned, however (unsurprisingly!) Thanks for your excellent answers, and it's nice to hear that other people have as much fun in working out their own brains as I do :)

I've had similar experiences in conjunction with migraines. I would lose the ability to read and use the wrong words for things.