Prosopagnosia or Prosopdysgnosia: Facing up to a change of concepts

Thomas Alrik Sørensen, Morten Overgaard

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceedingArticle in proceedingResearchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
424 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The term ‘Prosopagnosia’ refers to the inability to identify people using visual facial cues as a result of brain injury [1]. A further term, ‘Developmental Prosopagnosia’, has been proposed to refer to a condition with a similar dysfunction, but here there is an absence of any external brain injury. In recent years, these terms have been used increasingly, despite the lack of evidence about which specific functions are involved, and how they are affected during the development of human facial feature processing. Furthermore, most of these studies seem to address a dysfunction, rather than a function that never developed or has been lost altogether.
We propose clarifying the terminology by distinguishing between whether the function is absent (prosopagnosia) or functioning at a suboptimal level (prosopdysgnosia). This distinction is particularly important as an increasing number of studies indicate varying degrees of function, rather than a function that is either present or not. Focusing on the variations of dysfunctions may help to form a better understanding of how facial features are processed and used by different observers. Moreover, studies describing functions that are lost can help us to understand which parts of a network are critical for face perception. One model that may prove particularly useful, both in the general understanding of the dysfunction and in the specific possibilities regarding rehabilitation is the Reorganization of Elementary Functions model (REF) [2]. This model has recently been applied both within consciousness studies [3] and blindsight [4].
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2018 10th International Conference on Knowledge and Smart Technology : Cybernetics in the Next Decades, KST 2018
Number of pages4
PublisherIEEE Press
Publication date6 Aug 2018
Pages260-263
Article number8426086
Chapter263
ISBN (Print)9781538640159
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Aug 2018
EventInternational Conference on Knowledge and Smart Technology - Kantary Hills, Chiangmai, Thailand
Duration: 31 Jan 20183 Feb 2018
http://kst.buu.ac.th/2018new/

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Knowledge and Smart Technology
LocationKantary Hills
Country/TerritoryThailand
CityChiangmai
Period31/01/201803/02/2018
Internet address
SeriesInternational Conference on Knowledge and Smart Technology (KST)
ISSN2374-314X

Keywords

  • Prosopagnosia
  • Individual differences
  • Prosopdysgnosia
  • Visual Perception
  • Agnosia

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