Prosopagnosia Essay Example

recognize faces (Peelen, Lucas, Mayer, & Vuilleumier, 2009, p. 68).

There are three different types of prosopagnosia, which consists of Apperceptive prosopagnosia, Associative prosopagnosia and lastly developmental prosopagnosia. According to Gabriel, Klein & McCall (2008), Apperceptive prosopagnosia is defined as perceptual discrepancies while looking at and processing faces, they are unable to distinguish key features of individuals who are familiar to them. Associative prosopagnosia is where the person is unable to remember or retrieve the information associated with facial recognition (p. 77).

Duchaine, Murry, Turner, White, & Garrido (2009) defined developmental prosopagnosia which is also known as congenital prosopagnosia this is the inability to recognize faces since early childhood which is not due to brain damage (p. 620). Another type of prosopagnosia is mentioned in the article by Gruter, Gruter, & Carbon (2008), which is know as hereditary prosopagnosia, it is similar to developmental prosopagnosia besides the fact that it is hereditary and can be passed down though genetics (p. 6).

A person who is suffering from prosopagnosia is unable to perceive the stimulus of a face correctly because the brain is incapable of recognizing the stimulus due to damage of the fusiform gyrus located in the temporal lobe. Thus this explains the importance of face recognition and why it is important in everyday life. Faces are an important part of an individual’s social life. Faces tell many things about an individual, such as their mood, health, age, and gender.

They help us understand how a person is feeling and in some cases their facial expressions can also express what a person may be thinking. According to Gruter, Gruter, & Carbon (2008), there are many stages to processing faces,

which include a detection stage where the stimulus is detected, next the facial information will be analyzed and finally the information will be encoded and stored as the images of the faces (p. 81). They also stated that human tend to recognize faces by identifying key features and use that to make a whole picture (p. 5).

As said by Garrido, Duhaine, & Nakayama (2008) a strong inversion effect was shown by face detection, individuals who suffered from this disorder had a harder time looking at faces that were inverted and not in the upright position (p. 128). According to Kleine, Gabriel, Gangi, & Robertson (2008), the face is the most important part of our social environment, they explained that faces provide social cues which are useful in detecting a persons emotional state, gives hints about dishonesty, and other general interactions among individuals (p. 66).

Individuals who suffer from developmental prosopagnosia have had impairments of face recognition since birth; nonetheless they have no sign of any neurological damage in their brain (Bate, Haslam, Jansari, & Hodgson, 2009, p. 392). Schmalzl, Palermo, Harris, & Coltheart (2009), stated that “the perception and recognition of faces is one of the most important function of our visual system, and given its importances face processing has become one of the more prominent areas of reseach in cognitive neuroscience” p. 287).

Sensory basis for prosopagnosia are important to be looked at, because it tells you what areas of the brain are associated. Prosopagnosia occurs due to the damage to the fusiform face area, in the fusiform gyrus that is located in the temporal lobe and damages to the to the occipital face area located

in the occipital lobe (Gruter, Gruter, & Carbon, 2008, p. 82). However in individuals who experiences developmental prosopagnosia seem to have normal fusiform face area functioning.

Gruter, Gruter, & Carbon (2008), stated that the right fusiform face areas in most individuals reacts the strongest to the stimulus of a face (p. 83). A connection as been found between fusiform face areas and voice recognition areas, therefore when a familiar voice is heard then the fusiform face area is activated (p. 83). In the study conducted by Gabriel, Klein, & McCall (2008), a patient MJH was looked at in detail. He suffered from Apperceptive prosopagnosia; the researchers found that he suffered from damage to his left visual cortex along with damages to the right fusiform gyrus.

Therefore was unable to identify individuals by just looking at their faces, however the rest of his brain functioned normally (p. 978). Peelen, Lucas, Mayer, & Vuilleumier (2009), studied a patient by the name of PS, she suffered from prosopagnosia, she suffered a traumatic head injury in which it leasioned her left mid-venteral and right inferior occipital cortext, left fusiform gyrus, and right occipital face area, however her right fusiform gyrus was still intact (p. 268).

PS did not have an issue in recognizing objects in different orientations and viewpoints however she has a weak ability to recognize faces, even the ones of people she is familiar with (p. 269). When PS was presented with emotional or color cues she was able to find the target of the face better because she formed associations to the cues that related to the faces she was presented with (p. 273).

Another case study done by Celesia

(2010), showed that the visual cortex plays a role in face recognition (p. 5). Evidence shows that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder also suffer from face recognition impairments. According to Duchaine, Murry, Turner, White, & Garrido (2009) Autism Spectrum Disorder is very closely linked to developmental prosopagnosia, problems such as face processing are shared among individuals who suffer from both developmental prosopagnosia as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder, and they both suffer from a lack of social cognition (p. 621).

Neural and cognitive face abnormalities are common among individuals who suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder (Duchaine Murry, Turner, White, & Garrido, 2009, p. 621). They also suggest that individuals who have Autism Spectrum Disorder have deficits of the amygdala, which plays a role in emotions, little attention to socially, and emotionally relevant stimulus, low activations of the fusiform gyrus, an inability to recognize facial expressions and little social cognition (Duchaine Murry, Turner, White, & Garrido, 2009, p. 622).

It was stated by Schwarzer, Huber, Gruter, Gruter, Gro? Hipfel, & Kennerknecht (2007), that participants who suffered from hereditary prosopagnosia would view faces they would look at a person in different areas of their face and they would also fixate on external features in the hopes of identifying the face, whereas a normal individual would fixate on central features on the face that is being viewed (p. 587). Therefore it was said that people suffering from hereditary prosopagnosia had a more dispersed view when looking at an individuals face than the control group did (p. 588).

Prosopagnosia can be seen as an impairment, which arises from the consequence of a brain injury. According to Yardley et. Al. (2008), this is

usually presented from childhood in the absence of any history of serious injury or disease (p. 445). The reason for failing to recognize adult face recognition still remains unknown but appears to be a genetic element. Those with face recognition problems are often unaware and notice their relative deficiency in face recognition and are unlikely to suspect that this is due to neurological problems which has raised public awareness (Yardley et.

Al, 2008). As this may have severe impact on people’s lives this remains a growing concern and can result in individuals who suffer from this condition to refrain from developing social interaction, causes problems with people interpersonal relationships, can damage ones career and even lead to depression. Most of the fear and anxiety individuals face with prosopagnosia and dealing with the public is the shame and embarrassment they face with the humiliation of others. Therefore, these individuals will develop social development disorder.

Overall, one of the biggest consequences of this disorder is that social situations are greatly avoided. As a part of life, as human beings we enjoy socially engaging with others and those suffering from this condition often miss the opportunity of becoming socially involved and become withdrawn from society. Prosopagnosia can affect individuals everyday life since they are not able to recognize familiar faces. As noted, this condition can be very serious and have a greater impact on daily functioning.

As it is reported that majority of people who acknowledge they have this disorder often tend to avoid social interactions, problems with interpersonal relationship damage to career, increase fear and anxiety for being in a social environment. As this condition develops the severe inability to

process face recognition there are some helpful strategies which may be useful for people suffering these consequences, for example they may recognize a person by their hairstyle, clothing, voice or simply seeing a person within a given context.

However, as this may work in their favor at times, it may also cause an unexpected breakdown in which they may see the person in an unfamiliar setting and cause further confusion, such as if a family member was to change the color of their hair or if two people are wearing the same outfit. It is important to keep things as simple as possible for the person who suffers from this disorder. Hence, some improvements towards prosopagnosia may be useful.

For instance, according to Chow (2010), the ability to observe distinct traits on a persons face may be one simple strategy to use. Secondly, listening to their voices of others can also be useful as it provides the opportunity for these individuals to use their sense to compensate. Furthermore to recognize the important parts of other, or whether it is thinking simply about what they do in terms of their career or what they wear, and repeating the information frequently to themselves.

Lastly, another useful strategy can be to photograph new people and this will provide people suffering with this condition to learn about the people around them, whether it be family, friends, or new people they just met. Overall, using other senses can be an excellent way to enhance memory, making associations and create an emotional feeling about a new face. In conclusion, this paper took and in depth look at a disorder called prosopagnosia that is know

as a disorder or face perception, in which the ability to recognize faces in impaired.

It is due to the damage of the fusiform face area, which is located in the temporal lobe. It will also take a thorough look at the explanation on prosopagnosia; it explains the importance of facial recognition is everyday life. It discussed what aspects of the brain were involved with this disorder and what the sensory basis of it was. It compares prosopagnosia and Autism Spectrum Disorder, because both disorders have many things in common. Additionally it looks at the possible symptoms that can occur due to prosopagnosia, and the hardships faced by the people who suffer from it.

Finally, it will look at how a person is affected in their daily life and what ways the difficulties of prosopagnosia can be dealt with to ensure the individual is able to cope with the situation. This disorder limits individuals by not allowing them to fully and normally interact with their everyday lives, however coping strategies have been examined such as using other senses and using key features to determine a persons identity, therefore individuals will have the ability to try to live a normal, and happy life.

References

http://www.ehow.com/how_7666402_improve-recognition.html