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Neuropsychologia Aug 2016Developmental prosopagnosia has received increased attention in recent years, but as yet has no confirmed genetic or structural markers. It is not certain whether this... (Review)
Review
Developmental prosopagnosia has received increased attention in recent years, but as yet has no confirmed genetic or structural markers. It is not certain whether this condition reflects simply the low-end of the spectrum of normal face recognition, an 'under-development', or a pathologic failure to develop such mechanisms, a 'mal-development'. This difference in views creates challenges for the diagnosis of developmental prosopagnosia by behavioural criteria alone, which also vary substantially between studies, with secondary effects on issues such as determining its prevalence. After review of the literature and the problems inherent to diagnoses based solely on behavioural data, we propose as a starting discussion point a set of two primary and four secondary criteria for the diagnosis of developmental prosopagnosia.
Topics: Face; Humans; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Prosopagnosia; Recognition, Psychology
PubMed: 27312748
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.06.008 -
Frontiers in Bioscience (Elite Edition) Jan 2014Cognitive models propose a hierarchy of parallel processing stages in face perception, and functional neuroimaging shows a network of regions involved in face... (Review)
Review
Cognitive models propose a hierarchy of parallel processing stages in face perception, and functional neuroimaging shows a network of regions involved in face processing. Reflecting this, acquired prosopagnosia is not a single entity but a family of disorders with different anatomic lesions and different functional deficits. One classic distinction is between an apperceptive variant, in which there is impaired perception of facial structure, and an associative/amnestic variant, in which perception is relatively intact, with subsequent problems matching perception to facial memories, because of either disconnection or loss of those memories. These disorders also have to be distinguished from people-specific amnesia, a multimodal impairment, and prosop-anomia, in which familiarity with faces is preserved but access to names is disrupted. These different disorders can be conceived as specific deficits at different processing stages in cognitive models, and suggests that these functional stages may have distinct neuroanatomic substrates. It remains to be seen whether a similar anatomic and functional variability is present in developmental prosopagnosia.
Topics: Amnesia; Anomia; Cognition; Humans; Models, Neurological; Prosopagnosia
PubMed: 24389150
DOI: 10.2741/e699 -
Current Biology : CB Jan 2007
Topics: Cerebral Cortex; Humans; Prosopagnosia; Visual Perception
PubMed: 17208177
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.11.043 -
Neuropsychologia Jun 2024Facial identity recognition (FIR) is arguably the ultimate form of recognition for the adult human brain. Even if the term prosopagnosia is reserved for exceptionally... (Review)
Review
Facial identity recognition (FIR) is arguably the ultimate form of recognition for the adult human brain. Even if the term prosopagnosia is reserved for exceptionally rare brain-damaged cases with a category-specific abrupt loss of FIR at adulthood, subjective and objective impairments or difficulties of FIR are common in the neuropsychological population. Here we provide a critical overview of the evaluation of FIR both for clinicians and researchers in neuropsychology. FIR impairments occur following many causes that should be identified objectively by both general and specific, behavioral and neural examinations. We refute the commonly used dissociation between perceptual and memory deficits/tests for FIR, since even a task involving the discrimination of unfamiliar face images presented side-by-side relies on cortical memories of faces in the right-lateralized ventral occipito-temporal cortex. Another frequently encountered confusion is between specific deficits of the FIR function and a more general impairment of semantic memory (of people), the latter being most often encountered following anterior temporal lobe damage. Many computerized tests aimed at evaluating FIR have appeared over the last two decades, as reviewed here. However, despite undeniable strengths, they often suffer from ecological limitations, difficulties of instruction, as well as a lack of consideration for processing speed and qualitative information. Taking into account these issues, a recently developed behavioral test with natural images manipulating face familiarity, stimulus inversion, and correct response times as a key variable appears promising. The measurement of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in the frequency domain from fast periodic visual stimulation also appears as a particularly promising tool to complete and enhance the neuropsychological assessment of FIR.
Topics: Humans; Facial Recognition; Neuropsychological Tests; Prosopagnosia; Recognition, Psychology; Electroencephalography
PubMed: 38522782
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108865 -
Frontiers in Bioscience (Elite Edition) Jun 2014Understanding the human neuro-anatomy of face recognition is a long-standing goal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Studies of patients with face recognition impairment... (Review)
Review
Understanding the human neuro-anatomy of face recognition is a long-standing goal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Studies of patients with face recognition impairment following brain damage (i.e., acquired prosopagnosia) have revealed the specificity of face recognition, the importance and nature of holistic/configural perception of individual faces, and the distribution of this function in the ventral occipito-temporal (VOT) cortex, with a right hemispheric dominance. Yet, neuroimaging studies in this field have essentially focused on a single face-selective area of the VOT and underestimated the right hemisphere superiority. Findings in these studies have also been taken as supporting a hierarchical view of face perception, according to which a face is decomposed into parts in early face-selective areas, these parts being subsequently integrated into a whole representation in higher-order areas. This review takes a historical and current perspective on the study of acquired prosopagnosia and neuroimaging that challenges this latter view. It argues for a combination of these methods, an approach suggesting a coarse-to-fine emergence of the holistic face percept in a non-hierarchical network of cortical face-selective areas.
Topics: Cues; Face; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Models, Neurological; Models, Psychological; Neuroimaging; Prosopagnosia; Recognition, Psychology; Visual Perception
PubMed: 24896206
DOI: 10.2741/E706 -
Vision (Basel, Switzerland) Dec 2022Right temporal variant of frontotemporal dementia (rtv-FTD) represents an uncommon and recently described frontotemporal dementia (FTD) entity presenting with symptoms...
Right temporal variant of frontotemporal dementia (rtv-FTD) represents an uncommon and recently described frontotemporal dementia (FTD) entity presenting with symptoms in many ways comparable to those of the frontal or behavioral variant of FTD (bv-FTD). The aims of this study were to explore the timing of cognitive and behavioral symptoms of rtv-FTD, and to compare the distinct cognitive deficits including prosopagnosia and behavioral symptoms of rtv-FTD patients with those observed in bv-FTD patients. We reviewed the records of 105 patients clinically diagnosed with FTD. A total of 7 patients (5 men/2 women) with FTD and marked right temporal atrophy in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were detected. Clinical features were compared with those observed in a group of 22 age-matched patients (16 men/6 women) with FTD and predominant frontal lobe atrophy. The main presenting symptoms of rtv-FTD were prosopagnosia, apathy, and episodic memory impairment. In contrast, social awkwardness and compulsive behaviors were dominant in later stages of the disease together with disinhibition and loss of insight with a marked personality change. Although the cognitive and behavioral profiles of patients with right temporal or frontal lobes atrophy present substantial similarities, each subtype has a number of distinct characteristics. It appears that prosopagnosia, obsessive behaviors, and psychotic symptoms are more prominent in rtv-FTD patients.
PubMed: 36548937
DOI: 10.3390/vision6040075 -
Neurologic Clinics Aug 2003This review of developmental disorders of vision focuses on only a few of the many disorders that disrupt visual development. Given the enormity of the human visual... (Review)
Review
This review of developmental disorders of vision focuses on only a few of the many disorders that disrupt visual development. Given the enormity of the human visual system in the primate brain and complexity of visual development, however, there are likely hundreds or thousands of types of disorders affecting high-level vision. The rapid progress seen in developmental dyslexia and WMS demonstrates the possibilities and difficulties inherent in researching such disorders, and the authors hope that similar progress will be made for congenital prosopagnosia and other disorders in the near future.
Topics: Brain; Brain Ischemia; Child; Developmental Disabilities; Dyslexia; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Nerve Net; Perceptual Disorders; Prosopagnosia; Visual Perception; Williams Syndrome
PubMed: 13677818
DOI: 10.1016/s0733-8619(02)00096-8 -
F1000Research 2019Prosopagnosia is an impairment in the ability to recognize faces and can be acquired after a brain lesion or occur as a developmental variant. Studies of prosopagnosia... (Review)
Review
Prosopagnosia is an impairment in the ability to recognize faces and can be acquired after a brain lesion or occur as a developmental variant. Studies of prosopagnosia make important contributions to our understanding of face processing and object recognition in the human visual system. We review four areas of advances in the study of this condition in recent years. First are issues surrounding the diagnosis of prosopagnosia, including the development and evaluation of newer tests and proposals for diagnostic criteria, especially for the developmental variant. Second are studies of the structural basis of prosopagnosia, including the application of more advanced neuroimaging techniques in studies of the developmental variant. Third are issues concerning the face specificity of the defect in prosopagnosia, namely whether other object processing is affected to some degree and in particular the status of visual word processing in light of recent predictions from the "many-to-many hypothesis". Finally, there have been recent rehabilitative trials of perceptual learning applied to larger groups of prosopagnosic subjects that show that face impairments are not immutable in this condition.
Topics: Facial Recognition; Humans; Learning; Neuroimaging; Prosopagnosia
PubMed: 31231507
DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.18492.1 -
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews.... 2016Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by severe face identity recognition problems that results from a failure to develop the... (Review)
Review
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by severe face identity recognition problems that results from a failure to develop the mechanisms necessary for adequate face processing (Duchaine BC, Nakayama K. Developmental prosopagnosia: a window to content-specific face processing. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2006, 16:166-173.). It occurs in children and adults with normal visual acuity, and without intellectual impairments or known brain injuries. Given the importance of face recognition in daily life, and the detrimental effects of impaired face recognition, DP is an important area of study. Yet conventions for classifying individuals as DP for research purposes are poorly defined. In this focus paper, we discuss: (1) criteria for an operational definition of DP; 2) tests of face recognition and conventions for classifying individuals as DP; and 3) important considerations regarding common associations and dissociations, and cognitive heterogeneity in DP. We also highlight issues unique to studying DP in children, a relatively new endeavor that is proving to be an important complement to the work with adults. Ultimately, we hope to identify challenges researchers face when studying DP, and offer guidelines for others to consider when embarking on their own research pursuits on the topic. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Topics: Adult; Age Factors; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Neuropsychological Tests; Prosopagnosia; Research Design
PubMed: 26681428
DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1374 -
Cortex; a Journal Devoted To the Study... Apr 2024Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by difficulties recognising face identities and is associated with diverse co-occurring object recognition...
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by difficulties recognising face identities and is associated with diverse co-occurring object recognition difficulties. The high co-occurrence rate and heterogeneity of associated difficulties in DP is an intrinsic feature of developmental conditions, where co-occurrence of difficulties is the rule, rather than the exception. However, despite its name, cognitive and neural theories of DP rarely consider the developmental context in which these difficulties occur. This leaves a large gap in our understanding of how DP emerges in light of the developmental trajectory of face recognition. Here, we argue that progress in the field requires re-considering the developmental origins of differences in face recognition abilities, rather than studying the end-state alone. In practice, considering development in DP necessitates a re-evaluation of current approaches in recruitment, design, and analyses.
Topics: Humans; Prosopagnosia; Facial Recognition; Visual Perception; Pattern Recognition, Visual
PubMed: 38460488
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.02.006