SpringerLink
Log in

Prosopagnosia

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

  • 26 Accesses

Introduction

Animals and human beings tend to recognize others by seeing their face, and this constitutes one of the cornerstones for determining the type of relationship and degree of interaction between individuals. Primates in the apex of evolutionary pyramid could even recognize the emotional expressions showed upon the face and could identify the internal milieu of the confronting counterparts and their amicability. The face, either as a complete image or in parts, gets registered in the areas of brain, and upon subsequent encounter, the reactivation of the stored image helps in recognition of the person as such. The ability to recognize and recollect the person upon seeing their face differs from one individual to other. This ability is strongly dependent upon visual expertise pathways and extent of memory representation. However, some subjects tend to fail in recognizing even the faces which are well-known to them, and such impairment is termed as “prosopagnosia.” The...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allison, T., Puce, A., Spencer, D. D., & McCarthy, G. (1999). Electrophysiological studies of human face perception. I: Potentials generated in occipito-temporal cortex by face and non-face stimuli. Cerebral Cortex, 9, 415–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod, V., & Yovel, G. (2012). Hierarchical processing of face viewpoint in human visual cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 2442–2452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barton, J. J. (2008). Structure and function in acquired prosopagnosia: Lessons from a series of 10 patients with brain damage. Journal of Neuropsychology, 2(1), 197–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bate, S., Cook, S. J., Duchaine, B., Tree, J. J., Burns, E. J., & Hodgson, T. L. (2014). Intranasal inhalation of oxytocin improves face processing in developmental prosopagnosia. Cortex, 50, 55–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behrmann, M., Avidan, G., Marotta, J. J., & Kimchi, R. (2005). Detailed exploration of face-related processing in congenital prosopagnosia: 1. Behavioral findings. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 1130–1149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, A. H., Hadj-Bouziane, F., Frihauf, J. B., Tootell, R. B., & Ungerleider, L. G. (2009). Object representations in the temporal cortex of monkeys and humans as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Neurophysiology, 101, 688–700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentin, S., Allison, T., Puce, A., Perez, E., & McCarthy, G. (1996). Electrophysiological studies of face perception in humans. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 8, 551–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodamer, J. (1947). Die Prosop-Agnosie. [The Prosopagnosic]. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 179, 6–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, V., & Young, A. (1986). Understanding face recognition. British Journal of Psychology, 77(3), 305–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chao, L. L., Martin, A., & Haxby, J. V. (1999). Are face-responsive regions selective only for faces? Neuroreport, 10, 2945–2950.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corrow, S., Darlymple, K. A., & Barton, J. S. (2016). Prosopagnosia: Current perspectives. Eye and Brain, 8, 165–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Van Hoesen, G. W. (1982). Prosopagnosia: Anatomic basis and behavioural mechanisms. Neurology, 32(4), 331–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Gelder, B., Vroomen, J., Pourtois, G., & Weiskrantz, L. (1999). Non-conscious recognition of affect in the absence of striate cortex. Neuroreport, 10, 3759–3763.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchaine, B., & Nakayama, K. (2005). Dissociations of face and object recognition in developmental prosopagnosia. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(2), 249–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchaine, B. C., Yovel, G., Butterworth, E. J., & Nakayama, K. (2006). Prosopagnosia as an impairment to face-specific mechanisms: Elimination of the alternative hypotheses in a developmental case. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 23, 714–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eimer, M., & McCarthy, R. A. (1999). Prosopagnosia and structural encoding of faces: Evidence from event-related potentials. Neuroreport, 10, 255–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farah, M. J. (1996). Is face recognition “special”? Evidence from neuropsychology. Behavioural Brain Research, 76, 181–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., & Gobbini, M. I. (2002). Human neural systems for face recognition and social communication. Biological Psychiatry, 51(1), 59–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonas, J., Descoins, M., Koessler, L., Colnat-Coulbois, S., Sauvée, M., Guye, M., et al. (2012). Focal electrical intra-cerebral stimulation of a face-sensitive area causes transient prosopagnosia. Neuroscience, 222, 281–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanwisher, N., & Barton, J. J. S. (2011). The functional architecture of the face system: Integrating evidence from fMRI and patient studies. In A. J. Calder (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of face perception (pp. 111–129). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, D. N., & Calvanio, R. (1989). Prosopagnosia: a defect in visual configural processing. Brain and Cognition, 10, 149–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Logothetis, N. K., Guggenberger, H., Peled, S., & Pauls, J. (1999). Functional imaging of the monkey brain. Nature Neuroscience, 2(6), 555–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNeil, J., & Warrington, E. K. (1993). Prosopagnosia: A face specific disorder. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 46A, 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyers, E. M., Borzello, M., Freiwald, W. A., & Tsao, D. (2015). Intelligent information loss: The coding of facial identity, head pose, and non-face information in the macaque face patch system. The Journal of Neuroscience, 35(18), 7069–7081.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moeller, S., Freiwald, W. A., & Tsao, D. Y. (2008). Patches with links: A unified system for processing faces in the macaque temporal lobe. Science, 320(5881), 1355–1359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moscovitch, M., Winocur, G., & Behrmann, M. (1997). What is special about face recognition? Nineteen experiments on a person with visual object agnosia and dyslexia but normal face recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 9, 555–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinsk, M. A., DeSimone, K., Moore, T., Gross, C. G., & Kastner, S. (2005). Representations of faces and body parts in macaque temporal cortex: A functional MRI study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(19), 6996–7001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramus, F. (2004). Neurobiology of dyslexia: A reinterpretation of the data. Trends in Neurosciences, 27, 720–726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rangarajan, V., Hermes, D., Foster, B. L., Weiner, K. S., Jacques, C., Grill-Spector, K., et al. (2014). Electrical stimulation of the left and right human fusiform gyrus causes different effects in conscious face perception. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34(38), 12828–12836.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossion, B., Caldara, R., Seghier, M., Schuller, A. M., Lazeyras, F., & Mayer, E. (2003). A network of occipito-temporal face-sensitive areas besides the right middle fusiform gyrus is necessary for normal face processing. Brain, 126(11), 2381–2395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Susilo, T., & Duchaine, B. (2013). Advances in developmental prosopagnosia research. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(3), 423–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsao, D. Y., & Livingstone, M. S. (2008). Mechanisms of face perception. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 31(1), 411–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsao, D. Y., Freiwald, W. A., Knutsen, T. A., Mandeville, J. B., & Tootell, R. B. (2003). Faces and objects in macaque cerebral cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 6, 989–995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wachsmuth, E., Oram, M. W., & Perrett, D. I. (1994). Recognition of objects and their component parts: Responses of single units in the temporal cortex of the macaque. Cerebral Cortex, 4(5), 509–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur, India

    Vishwajit Ravindra Deshmukh

  2. JIPMER, Puducherry, India

    Dinesh Kumar

Authors
  1. Vishwajit Ravindra Deshmukh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dinesh Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vishwajit Ravindra Deshmukh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Texas Christian University, Forth Worth, USA

    Kenneth Leising

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Deshmukh, V.R., Kumar, D. (2020). Prosopagnosia. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_784-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_784-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation