So you think you might be face blind …
Try the Quiz below and find out if it is a strong possibility. Just answer yes or no. Score one point for every Yes and 0 points for every No.
Types of Prosopagnosia
Acquired prosopagnosia refers to instances where face blindness is the result of a brain injury or tauma, such as stroke, head injury or encephalitis. This form of face blindness has been recognised for a number of decades and information and support may be accessed via UK charities set up to work with individuals living with the aftermath of these specific conditions.
What is Face Blindness?
Prosopagnosia or face blindness is a neurological disorder that affects an individual’s ability to recognise familiar faces – acquaintances, friends, colleagues, well known people, and even close family members. It can be present from birth or the result of a brain injury later in life.
Face blindness is thought to be the result of abnormailities, damage or impairment in the right fusiform gyrus, a fold in the brain that is responsible for facial perception and memory. The condition can vary in the degree of severity and impact, with severe face blindness affecting approximately 2% of the population – a total of 1.2 million people in the UK.
Medical awareness and research has recognised ‘Acquired Prosopagnosia’, that is face blindness as a result of head injury or brain trauma such as a stroke, for at least the last 50 years, but it is only in the last decade that ‘Developmental Prosopagnosia’ has become the subject of research.
The majority of people who have lived all their life with the condition may well be unaware that they have a neurological deficit, and that for other people recognition is automatic.
