As many as 3% of the world’s population may be face blind, according to new research.
Facial blindness, also known as developmental prosopagnosia, was previously thought to affect 2-2.5% of people.
But researchers at Harvard Medical School and the VA Boston Health Care System found Of the 3,341 people involved in their study, 31 had severe prosopagnosia and 72 had mild.
Facial blindness, the uncanny condition of recognizing or recognizing strangers’ faces, can cause severe social anxiety, according to researchers.
Harvard research results published in scientific journals cortex “It’s important on several levels,” according to psychiatrist Joseph DeGutis last month.
“Most researchers use overly stringent diagnostic criteria, and many people with significant facial recognition problems in everyday life have been erroneously told that they do not have prosopagnosia. he says. Said.
The web-based survey tested participants in a variety of ways. For example, we asked if they had difficulty recognizing faces in everyday life, or if they could identify the faces of celebrities and other celebrities.that test can be completed online.
“Facial blindness is fascinating on several levels.” We know that “superpowers” depend on some specific perceptual processes. A memory process that easily associates knowledge about faces with people. It also contains specialized brain mechanisms and regions, such as the fusiform facial region. ”
Researchers say prosopagnosia, or facial blindness, can be caused by brain damage to the occipital or temporal regions of the brain, but this is rare, affecting an estimated 1 in 33,000 Americans. affect people.
It can also be a lifelong condition caused by genetic or developmental abnormalities. The condition is called developmental prosopagnosia, DeGutis said.
Psychologists say researchers hope the results will lead to an expanded diagnosis.
He also said early diagnosis could help people with the condition monitor future age-related declines.
Coverage for this article was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.
