The term prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, comes from the Greek and is combined from the words prsosopon for face and gnosis for knowledge. This condition means that people are unable or have difficulty recognizing faces. In other words, identifying or distinguishing people by face is not possible. Prosopagnosia, however, can also affect the ability to recognize objects, places, or cars in some cases. So it is a malfunction of the brain circuits. However, despite having this condition, those with prosopagnosia are neurologically intact and have normal intellectual, socio-cognitive and visual functioning.
Prosopagnosia is estimated to affect approximately 2 percent of the population and is considered a rare disease, as it affects no more or even less than one person in 2,000.
There are two types of prosopagnosia: acquired and developmental or congenital. Acquired means that neurological damage is the trigger, either from a stroke, accident or brain injury. Developmental or congenital means that the affected person has suffered from this disease since early childhood or has inherited it through a genetic connection. Most conditions often originate from birth and it remains for most or the whole lifetime
Managing life with this condition
There is no hope for a cure through specific treatments. That is why those affected often develop their own strategies for dealing with the consequences. To know who the other person is visual or non-visual information is learned. Visual information is body posture or certain characteristics like hairstyle or clothing, non-visual information is the other person’s smell or voice. But these types of strategies will not always work especially in unfamiliar locations or situations.
Cure
As mentioned earlier, there are no treatments that cure the condition. However, there may be techniques that can help some people who have developmental or congenital prosopagnosia to relearn the mechanisms of facial processing again or anew. For people who have this condition due to neurological damage to the brain, certain factors may determine whether recovery can be successful. These include the age of the person when the brain was damaged, the severity of the brain injury, and the timing of treatment.
Problems or consequences of the disease
Prosopagnosia can carry some serious consequences. A person with this disorder may develop an overwhelming fear of social situations and therefore try to avoid social interactions. Consequences may include problems at work and few social contacts. Depression is not an uncommon condition, especially when the condition occurs later in life. Remembering places, distances or orientation points can also be impaired, because this information cannot be processed properly. Some no longer recognize their own face. It is harder to follow plots in movies because the characters are not recognized. Problems such as judging the age or gender of the other person, not being able to follow the gaze or interpret facial expressions are also consequences of this disease. However, this does not always have to be the case. Many can recognize the differences, see if people are laughing for example, but cannot assign this information. A great number of people with this condition report that they fear to appear rude or uninterested, because they do not recognize the other person.
Treatments
There is a program for people with developmental or congenital prosopagnosia to learn how to recognize faces. The program works by showing computer generated faces of men to the persons with the condition. The task is then to divide these faces into two categories. In one category, the faces must be classified in which the eyebrows and eyes as well as the noses and mouths are closer together. In the other category, the same pairs must be sorted, only the distance is further apart. It is normal to need about two seconds to be able to classify a face. For people with prosopagnosia, it can take six times longer. The purpose behind this cognitive training is to learn not only to remember one particular feature, but to force them to remember the distance between the eyebrows and the eyes, as well as the mouth and nose at the same time. However, this theory does not work for all people with this condition. If these exercises are not continued, it is possible that after about three months this ability to recognize faces will decrease again. Nevertheless, it also shows that it is possible for the brain to acquire new abilities. Researchers believe that it is much easier for younger people to learn or acquire new things, which is why it is advised to start this program relatively early in the hope that the skills will be kept.
Another tactic comes from seven classmates based in France, who have created a company called CertiFaced to use AR glasses to help people with the condition. The idea is to use software to help identify people by scanning certain distinctive facial features. The principle is intended to work similarly to facial recognition used to unlock cell phones. In order to gain the necessary knowledge, they have talked intensively with this group of people and received a lot of constructive criticism. This project is still in the process of implementation and they hope to get the necessary funding to continue it.
Sources
- Prosopagnosia, Durjoy Lahiri (19.8.2020), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343935303_Prosopagnosia
- Rare health conditions 31: infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy, progressive hemifacial atrophy, acquired prosopagnosia; and offering emotional and psychological support, Chris Barber (8.1.2020), https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjha.2020.14.1.15
- Prosopagnosia (face blindness), o.A. (last reviewed: 1 May 2019), http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/face-blindness/
- Face blindness program shows promise, Mark Roth (1.6.2010), http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2010/06/01/Face-blindness-program-shows-promise/stories/201006010140
- Can technology help face blindness?, Lam Yee Man Nick (29.10.2019), http://medium.com/@lamyeemanick/can-technology-help-face-blindness-43ce845c9e75
