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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2024
Face blindness, or prosopagnosia, is a neurological condition resulting in trouble identifying human faces. It is usually caused by damage to the fusiform gyrus in the posterior temporal lobe and anterior portion of the occipital lobe. Oliver Sacks famously introduced this condition to popular culture in his 1987 book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Dr. Sacks wrote about his own, severe face blindness in a fascinating, August 23, 2010 article in The New Yorker. One of my neurology colleagues has such severe face blindness that she needs to hear someone speak before reliably making an identification. Like Oliver Sacks, she’s had it all her life. Up to 2.5% of people are born with congenital face blindness, mostly inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. Acquired face blindness may be caused by head trauma, strokes, or tumors affecting the fusiform gyrus. A more insidious form of face blindness occurs in many people with Alzheimer’s disease, even in the early stages.
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