Psychosocial consequences of developmental prosopagnosia: A problem of recognition

Abstract

Objective: To provide the first systematic in-depth description of the consequences of developmental prosopagnosia (DP; 'face blindness') for psychosocial functioning and occupational disability, in order to determine what kind of professional intervention may be needed. Methods: Semi-structured telephone interviews were carried out with 25 people whose selfreports of face recognition problems were confirmed by impaired scores on the Cambridge Face Recognition Test. Thematic analysis was used to inductively identify and understand common psychosocial consequences of DP. Results: All participants described recurrent and sometimes traumatic social interaction difficulties caused by recognition problems, such as failing to recognize close friends, work colleagues, and family members. These problems often led to chronic anxiety about offending others and feelings of embarrassment, guilt, and failure. Most participants described some degree of fear and avoidance of social situations in which face recognition was important, including family and social gatherings, and meetings at work. Long-term consequences could include dependence on others, a restricted social circle, more limited employment opportunities, and loss of self-confidence. Conclusion: The potential for negative psychosocial consequences and occupational disability posed by DP is as great as that posed by conditions which are currently afforded professional recognition and support, such as stuttering and dyslexia. Wider recognition of the problems prosopagnosia can cause could reduce anxiety about social interaction difficulties by making it easier to explain and justify recognition problems to other people, including employers. Greater professional awareness could facilitate detection and referral of those requiring support with coping with social interactions.

Human medial temporal lobe neurons respond preferentially to personally relevant images

“…Interestingly, recordings of firing patterns of MTL neurons in rodents have provided a wealth of evidence that, at least in these animals, the firing patterns are often tied to specific spatial locations (44). Whereas spatial information is particularly important to rodents, recognizing and interpreting facial expressions skillfully represents a critical human function, given the central role that social interactions play in the human experience (45). Though we did not find any significant effects of familiarity with respect to landmarks, we did not include personally familiar landmarks such as the patient's home, school, or work.…”

Socio-emotional functioning and face recognition ability in the normal population

“…Indeed, if someone is better at face recognition, they may generally be more successful in social situations. Reports of individuals suffering from prosopagnosia indicate how impaired face recognition can be socially debilitating (Yardley et al, 2008). Thus, it would also make sense that socio-emotional functioning can develop in response to good face recognition abilities.…”

A strong role for nature in face recognition

“…From a practical perspective, the implications may be even more important. We know that individuals with developmental prosopagnosia can show serious psychosocial consequences such as heightened anxiety, chronic stress, feelings of inadequacy, social interaction and occupational difficulties, and avoidance of social situations (19). The existence of large individual differences even in the rest of the population leads us to ask whether there might also be psychosocial consequences of milder "deficits" in face recognition.…”