Progress in perceptual research: the case of prosopagnosia

Abstract

Prosopagnosia is an impairment in the ability to recognize faces and can be acquired after a brain lesion or occur as a developmental variant. Studies of prosopagnosia make important contributions to our understanding of face processing and object recognition in the human visual system. We review four areas of advances in the study of this condition in recent years. First are issues surrounding the diagnosis of prosopagnosia, including the development and evaluation of newer tests and proposals for diagnostic criteria, especially for the developmental variant. Second are studies of the structural basis of prosopagnosia, including the application of more advanced neuroimaging techniques in studies of the developmental variant. Third are issues concerning the face specificity of the defect in prosopagnosia, namely whether other object processing is affected to some degree and in particular the status of visual word processing in light of recent predictions from the “many-to-many hypothesis”. Finally, there have been recent rehabilitative trials of perceptual learning applied to larger groups of prosopagnosic subjects that show that face impairments are not immutable in this condition.

Comparing the sensitivity of face matching assessments to detect face perception deficits

“…Recognizing faces is a highly specialized, multistage process (Bruce & Young, 1986) that involves a network of brain regions (Grill-Spector et al, 2017;Haxby et al, 2000;Haxby & Gobbini, 2011). Though recognition of familiar faces is typically rapid and effortless (Jenkins et al, 2018), this ability can be severely impaired in many neurological, psychiatric, and developmental disorders including prosopagnosia (Albonico & Barton, 2019;Mayer & Rossion, 2007), autism spectrum disorders (Dwyer et al, 2019;Weigelt et al, 2012), Alzheimer's disease (Lavallée et al, 2016), person recognition disorders (Gainotti, 2007), as well as others (Barton et al, 2004;Dimitriou et al, 2015). The causes of face recognition deficits in these conditions vary considerably, and it is crucial to identify measures that can discern the stages of face identification impairments to help with both diagnosis (Benton & Van Allen, 1968;Benton et al, 1994;Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006;Duchaine et al, 2007) and treatment (Bate & Bennetts, 2014;DeGutis et al, 2014b, a).…”

What is Capgras Syndrome? Diagnosis and Treatment Approach

“…Capgras delusion can occur due to 'spatial disorientation, anatomic disconnection, memory and executive process impairment, and loss of ego' [4]. While psychodynamic theories consist of ambivalence theory, depersonalization theory, and regression theory, neurocognitive hypotheses focus on right hemispheric dysfunction, face-recognition processing abnormalities, and focal structural cerebral abnormalities [29]. There are two components of the visual recognition of a familiar face, one of which is responsible for conscious recognition of the face and the remembrance of associated semantic information, while the other is responsible for the limbic-mediated emotional arousal including the feeling of familiarity that accompanies the conscious recognition of a known face [9].…”

“…The term CS does not demonstrate a well-defined mental disorder. Over the years various studies have suggested psychodynamic and neurophysiological interpretations for CS, and various aetiologies have been recommended for the condition's development [16,18,29].…”

“…In patients with CS of an organic nature, violence may be associated with few or no affective manifestations (e.g., hostility, aggression, and auditory hallucinations), and may not be associated with paranoid elements [7]. Delusional symptoms in CS such as persecutory thoughts, threatcontrol symptoms, command auditory and/or visual hallucinations, and hallucinations of threatening content have all demonstrated to be significant predictors of violence act and aggressive behaviour [29]. If the patients are married, divorced, or separated, the most frequent doubles are the spouse.…”

“…A significantly higher tendency for interpersonal violence are men disclosed among male subjects, average age at 40 years old, with a history of aggressive behaviour and substance abuse; social withdrawal prior to the violent act is common, and the violence is usually well planned [20,22,23]. Persecutory paranoid motivations have been implicated as a key factor in acts of violence toward family members who constitute the majority of victims in CS [29]. Physical violence was expressed by 58.2% of patients with CS and 62.5% of patients with CS engaged in acts of interpersonal violence toward their close family members and caregivers [22,23].…”