Prosopagnosia (also known as face blindness) is a neurological condition that affects an individual’s ability to reliably recognise familiar faces – acquaintances, friends, colleagues, well-known people, and even close family members.
For some people this is caused by a trauma to the brain. However, the majority of people with prosopagnosia will have lived all their life with the condition, but may well be unaware that they have a neurological deficit, and that for other people face recognition is automatic.
An Overview
The History
Resources
Acquired Prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia & Neurodiversity
Supporting Children
It is estimated that at least 2% of the population have significant difficulty recognising faces. In the UK that’s 1.2 million people with prosopagnosia. This includes some very accomplished and well known individuals:
- Duncan Bannatyne, Businessman
- Stephen Fry, British Actor
- Jane Goodall Anthropologist
- Joanna Lumley, British Actor
- Emily Maitlis, Journalist & TV presenter
- Brad Pitt, American Actor
- Oliver Sacks, Neurologist & Writer
- Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden
- Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder
