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Prosopagnosia is a very rare disease. Prosopagnosia is also known as face blindness. It is a disorder that impairs our ability to recognize faces, despite good basic vision and intelligence. The faces of the person he meets appears to be blurred and thus he fails to make out who he or she is. People who are "color blind" can see color, but they can't differentiate colors. People who are "tone- deaf" are not really deaf. They can hear tones, but they can't differentiate different tones. Similarly Prosopagnosics can see faces, but just they can't recognize faces. The faces of the person he meets appears to be blurred and thus failing to make out who he or she is.

Some have the difficulty in recognizing other types of objects, such as fruits and vegetables, animals, or cars, but generally they can recognize other everyday objects. Prosopagnosic patient cannot even recognize their own face in the mirror or a photograph. People with face blindness can typically understand facially expressed emotions — they know whether face is happy, sad or angry.

Prosopagnosics often have difficulty recognizing family members, close friends, including their own spouses and children and even themselves. Prosopagnosics have trouble following the plot of television shows and movies because they cannot keep track of the identity of the characters. This facial recognition disorder can create serious social problems. People with prosopagnosia tend to become shy and withdrawn characters as they have to face a lot of embarrassment in various social situation that can hurt their careers and private lives.

If this disorder surfaces as a result of a brain injury or a neurological condition affecting the brain during childhood, it is referred to as developmental prosopagnosia. Developmental prosopagnosia is present in children with autism and Asperger syndrome. Their impairment may not be apparent to them or anyone else until they reach adulthood. If the disorder arise in adulthood because of traumatic brain injury or stroke it is referred to as acquired prosopagnosia. Congenital prosopagnosia, refers to a face recognition disorder in a normal child without any neurological disorders.

Prosopagnosia research Studies have shown that the brain processes images of faces and object differently. Any damage, or impairment to fusiform gyrus of the brain that coordinates and controls facial perception and memory causes prosopagnosia. There is some evidence that prosopagnosia runs in families.

Prosopagnosics must learn other ways of recalling faces. Clues such as mole, scar, hairstyle, beard, voice, a person's perfume and clothes may help them to identify people. Other sources of hint could be the cars the particular individual possess or the house in which he or she lives in. At the workplace, colleagues can be identified with the type of job they do.

Famous sufferers includes Oliver Sacks, famous neuroscientist, author of many books including "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for aHat"and Jane Morris-Goodall a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace.

Take the prosopagnosia test online here:

http://www.faceblind.org/facetests/index.php

If you believe that you have Prosopagnosia please contact

http://www.faceblind.org/research/index.html to help them in their research work.

prosopagnosia video