You bump into someone or a family member that you might have
recognize them because of their face, you say hello, but they do not respond
back. They have this confused look on their face and say they do not
recognize you. You might think they are being rude. What if there is really a disorder that does
impede you to recognize faces. This is called prosopagnosia or face blindness.
It is a neurological disorder that is characterized by the inability to
recognize faces. Depending on the degree of impairment, some people might only have
difficulty recognizing familiar faces while others will be unable to
distinguish a face as different from an object. There are even some people that
are not able to recognize their own face. Here is a video about Dr. Oliver
Sacks explaining what is prosopagnosia, explains the symptoms
from the character from his book, and what people have experienced about
the disorder. I would really encourage you to read his books it is where I
first encountered this neurological disorder.
How do people get prosopagnosia? Well it can be the result
of brain damage such as a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or neurodegenerative
disease. These types of damages can impair
the right fusiform gyrus or nearby areas, which appears to coordinate the
neural systems that control facial perception and memory. Individuals with this
disorder might have trouble identifying their close friends or family. They
depend on the voice, clothing, or unique physical characteristic to identify
them. I imagine how difficult it is for the person but it must also be harsh for
the surrounding family. Like in this next video, Terry has prosopagnosia and
cannot recognize her mother’s face, but she can recognize her by the clothes
she wears.
Research about the disorder and research about treatment is
still being done today because there is limited information due to being few
patients with prosopagnosia.
Wow this disorder seems really sad and difficult to live with! It was really sad when Terry saw her own face and didn't recognize herself at all. As a matter of fact, I've read Dr. Sack's book and I remember the case he was talking about. I remember thinking that it was so bizarre and I didn't really understand the loss of recognition. There were a lot of other types of agnosia that were very interesting in his book, like the patient who couldn't recognize his own arm! The conditions seem so similar in that they are a loss of recognition but I'm sure the part of the brain that handles perception has many different areas for different classes of objects. This is a very intriguing topic!!
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