Essay On Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia is a relatively rare cognitive disorder which causes difficulties in face recognition and perception (Bate & Tree, 2016). Face perception involves many functions within the brain, from processing memories of faces to judging the qualities of a face (Lidaka, 2014). Many researchers have conducted studies to try and determine just how face perception occurs, and whether this process is different to the process involved in the id entification of general objects. Studies of individuals with prosopagnosia for face versus object stimuli have strengthened the theory that these processes are different, as well as studies using the face inversion effect. Specific areas within the brain have also been identified as being more active when shown face stimuli. There are arguments against the face-specific theories, suggesting that faces are not specially processed, rather they are more complex (Damasio, Damasio, & Van Hoesen, 1982) or that areas in the brain which are often regarded as face specific can be trained to elicit activity in other objects (Gauthier, Tarr, Anderson, Skudlarski & Gore, 1999). As prosopagnosia is face specific, many studies on face versus object processing have been carried out individuals with the disorder. …show more content…
The suggestion that there is a face-specific area in the brain which does not deal with the recognition of general objects suggests that people with prosopagnosia should not have difficulty identifying general objects (Duchaine, Yovel, Butterworth & Nakayama, 2006). There are alternative explanations for how prosopagnosia can occur and whether there is a specific area in the brain purely used to process faces or whether this process is just a part of a wider, more general system for identifying objects (Duchaine, Yovel, Butterworth & Nakayama,