Also called face blindness. A condition characterized by the inability to recognize faces. Acquired prosopagnosia is caused by damage to the brain, particularly the fusiform gyrus. Developmental (or congenital) prosopagnosia is present from birth.

Prosopagnosia 

- Face-selective part of the brain
- This area could be responsible for facial recognition, since stroke damage here can lead to difficulty in recognizing faces (prosopagnosia)

University of Colorado at Boulder

- Some information from the primary cortex extends ventrally towards the temporal lobe
- This is called the ventral stream
- Consists of several brain regions, thought to be involved in the perception of the visual world and the recognition of objects

Ventral Stream

Bear, M. F., Connors, B. W., & Paradiso, M. A. (2016). Neuroscience: Exploring the brain. Wolters Kluwer. 

Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain

- This area receives input from blob and interblob regions of V1
- Neurons in this area have larger receptive fields and many are color and orientation specific, suggesting their prominent role in the perception of color and shapes
- Damage in this area could result in achromatopsia

Area V4: Shape and Color Perception

- This area receives information from P cells, which are closely associated with color and shape recognition, as well as the cones of the retina.
- Cells in this area are strongly stimulated by color and abstract shapes
- Output from area IT goes to temporal lobe structures associated with learning and memory, suggesting that area IT may be important for visual perception and visual memory

Area IT - Inferior Temporal Gyrus

Fusiform Face Area (FFA)

- OFA has been suggested to be sensitive to facial identity (when differing between a classmate and a professor's face, for example)

Learn Before

Related

Learn After