FACE BLINDNESS
Face blindness is a cognitive disorder characterized by the inability to recognize or differentiate faces.
- In face blindness, other aspects of visual processing (e.g, object discrimination) and intellectual functioning (e.g decision making) remain contact.
- Depending on the severity of the impairment, some people with the condition may only have difficulty recognizing a familiar face including family members, partners, and even friend, some may struggle to differentiate or identify unknown faces or people they don’t know too well, and others may have problems even recognizing their own faces in the mirror or in the photos.
- Also known as prosopagnosia, face blindness can have a severe impact on everyday life. A person with the condition may avoid social interactions, have difficulty forming relationships both in personal and professional setting, and develop a social anxiety disorder.
- There are two types of prosopagnosia: developmental (congenital) and acquired.
- Face blindness is sometimes associated with developmental disorders, such as autistic spectrum disorder, Turner syndrome and Williams syndrome
CAUSES
Developmental (congenital) prosopagnosia is a congenital disorder present at birth. Most people with congenital prosopagnosia may fail to develop the ability to recognize faces. It appears to run in the families, which makes it likely to be the result of a genetic mutation or deletion. Many people with the condition have reported at least a parent or sibling who has problems recognizing faces.
Acquired prosopagnosia is rare and it is thought to be caused by impairment, abnormalities, or damage of the right fusiform gyrus, a fold in the brain. This area in the brain is responsible for coordinating the neural system that affects facial memory and perception.
SYMPTOMS
- Difficulty making friends
- Become clingy or withdrawn in public places
- Inability to recognize familiar people, like neighbors, close relatives, family friends especially when they are seen out of context.
- Approach strangers or someone they know instead of another person
- Difficulty following plots of films or TV shows
- Children may wait for you to wave before they come over when you are collecting them from school or an event
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
A neurologist will carry out diagnosis if you are having trouble recognizing faces.
You may be asked to take an assessment that evaluates your ability to recognize facial features. The assessment may evaluate your ability to:
- Memorize and later recognize strange faces
- Recognize famous faces
- Assess information like age or gender from a set of faces
- Spot differences or similarities of facial features in sets of faces that you recognize or faces presented next to each other
- Judge emotions from a set of faces
The Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT), The Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT), and Warrington Recognition Memory of faces (RMF) are some of the tests that physician may use to evaluate potential face blindness.
TREATMENT
No treatment exists for face blindness.
Treatment options focus on finding coping mechanisms to help people with the condition better identify individuals.
Researchers are still trying to understanding specific causes of the condition and look for treatment