Prosopagnosia

How would you feel if you could not recognize the face of your best friend, significant other or even your children? What about not being able to recognize your own reflection?

Prosopagnosia, is a condition was exists in individuals all over the world, is the inability to recognize faces of familiar people. Although these individuals can recognize daily objects they have a hard time with facial features, this can be developed from head trauma, stroke and other diseases.

“Prosopagnosia is thought to be the result of abnormalities, damage, or impairment in the right fusiform gyrus, a fold in the brain that appears to coordinate the neural systems that control facial perception and memory.” (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). This condition can run in families and babies can be born with it.

Although there is not cure for this, people can adapt ways to make day-to-day interactions with people easier and less awkward. People with prosopagnosia find ways to recognize the person such as remember distinct features like a mole or birthmark or even hairstyles help.

This can affect people daily, it also can be very upsetting to individuals who could once recognize  their family members and now can no longer. This Youtube video shows a lady struggling to deal with her new disorder. She cant recognize her mother or even herself, you can tell that this really upsets her! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwCrxomPbtY

Other people like this man has an upbeat and positive perspective about his condition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGXAiSpN00&feature=related (provided in chapter 4 lecture notes)

(I find it extremely funny both of these people with face blindness have professions in photography!!!)

To find out more! http://www.faceblind.org/research/

Sources:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/prosopagnosia/Prosopagnosia.htm