Prosopagnosia

Question 1

Prosopagnosia is also called ..

Answer 1

face blindness

Question 2

Prosopagnosia, also called face blindness, is a ..

Answer 2

..a cognitive disorder of face perception in which the ability to recognize familiar faces, including one’s own face (self-recognition), is impaired, while other aspects of visual processing (e.g., object discrimination) and intellectual functioning (e.g., decision- making) remain intact

Question 3

Which specific brain area usually is associated with prosopagnosia?

Answer 3

the fusiform gyrus, which activates specifically in response to faces

The functionality of the fusiform gyrus allows most people to recognize faces in more detail than they do similarly complex inanimate objects

Question 4

Which hemisphere is more often involved in face recognition?

Answer 4

The right hemisphere fusiform gyrus is more often involved in familiar face recognition than the left

Question 5

Which two types of prosopagnosia are there?

Answer 5

acquired
and
congenital (developmental)

Question 6

From what does acquired prosopagnosia usually results from?

Who experience it?

Answer 6

Acquired prosopagnosia results from occipito-temporal lobe damage and is most often found in adults

Question 7

What two subdivisions of prosopagnosia do exist?

Answer 7

apperceptive and associative prosopagnosia

Question 8

How is congenital prosopagnosia expressed?

Answer 8

In congenital prosopagnosia, the individual never adequately develops the ability to recognize faces

• Lifelong
• Manifesting in early childhood
• Genetic factor (several studies)

Question 9

Nearby brain areas and associated disorders:

Answer 9

o Hemianopsia
o Achromatopsia
o Topographical disorientation

Question 10

Hemianopsia

Answer 10

right occipital lobe; loss of vision from left side of space

Question 11

Achromatopsia

Answer 11

temporo-occipital junction; color perception

Question 12

Topographical disorientation

Answer 12

posterior part of parahippocampal gyrus and anterior part of lingual gyrus of right hemisphere; loss of environmental familiarity and difficulties in using landmarks

Question 13

Apperceptive type

Answer 13

• Right occipital temporal regions
• Cannot make any sense of faces
• Unable to make same-different judgments
• Unable to recognize familiar and unfamiliar faces
• Struggle recognizing facial emotion
• Can recognize via non-face clues such as clothing, hairstyle, skin color, voice

Question 14

Associative type

Answer 14

• Spared/intact perceptual processes
• Impaired links between early face perception and semantic information from memories
• Right anterior temporal regions
• Able to make same-different judgments
• Can derive age and sex from a face (some face information)
• But not able to then identify person with name, occupation, or last encounter

Question 15

Caused by lesions in verious parts of..

Answer 15

inferior occipital areas, fusiform gyrus, anterior temporal cortex

Question 16

Anterior temporal structures integrate info about ..

Answer 16

face, voice and name of familiar person

Question 17

Vascular causes

Answer 17

Posterior cerebral artery infarcts, hemorrhages

Question 18

Unilateral left lesions result in ..

Answer 18

object agnosia; if it affects face perception, mostly difficulties in person-specific semantic information

Question 19

Can be diagnosed through..

Answer 19

Face tests
Benton Facial Recognition Test
Cambridge Face Memory Test
The 20-item Prosopagnosia Index

Question 20

Faces tests:

Answer 20

o Have to recognize faces of famous persons

o difficult to standardize

Question 21

Benton Facial Recognition Test

Answer 21

o Six test faces, one target face
o Have to tell which test face matches target face
o Images eliminate hair and clothes
o First six items: only one test face matches target; next seven items, three test faces match target
o :( Reliability questioned
o :) useful to identify apperceptive type, since it is mainly matching test, and they are unable to recognize familiar and unfamiliar faces
o :( not useful to diagnose associative type since they are able to match faces anyway

Question 22

Cambridge Face Memory Test

Answer 22

o Three images each of six different target faces
o Then presented with many three-image series, with one image of a target face and two distracters
o More accurate and efficient than previous tests
o But similar to the BFRT, match faces and needs further testing

Question 23

The 20-item Prosopagnosia Index

Answer 23

o Freely available and validated self-report questionnaire

o Validated

Question 24

Treatment

Answer 24

No widely accepted treatments

Question 25

Prognosis

Answer 25

• Impairments after stroke: low rate of success

- Sometimes it resolves spontaneously

Question 26

Children

Answer 26

• Often unaware of their disorder and that others can distinguish people
• Disorder is often overlooked
• Children have hard time making friends
• Difficulties following TV plots; cartoons are easier