2023-05-12 18:02:00
The moment we look at a person, our eyes and brains scan the information to tell us whether or not their face actually looks familiar. However, this process that we take for granted does not always occur: the difficulty in distinguishing a familiar face is called prosopagnosia.
The condition consists of the loss of connection between what is seen and the part of memory dedicated to identification, explains a study published in the Scientific Journal of the Spanish Society of Neurological Nursing. Indeed, “what is done is deductive recognition by tone of voice, hair color, glasses, clothing, and may not be aware of the problem.”
Joseph DeGutis, lead researcher at Harvard, pointed out that prosopagnosia can be caused by a brain lesion in the occipital or temporal regions of the brain, called acquired prosopagnosia, or it can be caused by genetic abnormalities, called developmental prosopagnosia.
Until recently it was assumed that it was a very rare problem, however, in the last two decades the opposite has been seen. Thanks to media coverage and social networks, the issue gained relevance and DeGutis’s research published in the scientific journal Cortex found that the prevalence of the type of developmental prosopagnosia ranges from 0.13% to 5.42% in the United States. At the population level, these percentages are equivalent to hundreds of thousands of individuals.
One of the biggest problems with the condition is that more than half of those affected do not meet the main diagnostic criteria. So the team of researchers administered a variety of facial recognition tests and questionnaires to more than 3,100 American adults. The findings suggested that face blindness is on a spectrum like many other developmental disorders, such as autism, notes Science Alert.
“Most researchers have used overly strict diagnostic criteria, and many people with significant facial recognition problems in daily life have been mistakenly told that they do not have prosopagnosia. Expanding diagnosis is important because even in mild forms, it can help you take steps to reduce its negative impacts on daily life, such as telling your co-workers or seeking treatment,” DeGutis suggested.
Since we all depend on our vision and the ability to recognize information in the faces of others to lead a normal life, so-called facial blindness is a disorder that can cause great discomfort to those affected, National Geographic says. Therefore, even those with mild forms can benefit from training and treatment, so “it is time that we take them into account,” proposes the Science Alert article.
This content was originally published on RED/ACCIÓN and is republished as part of the ‘Human Journalism’ program, an alliance for quality journalism between RÍO NEGRO and RED/ACCIÓN.
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