When I use a word . . . Facial blindness—prosopagnosia

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Source: BMJ

Original: http://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj.s494.short?rss=1...

Published: 2026-03-13T10:51:01-07:00

Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is a neurological disorder in which people cannot remember or recognize human faces[1]. This is a specific brain problem, not a vision or memory disorder[1]. Affected individuals see faces normally, but their brain cannot remember these faces even in the short term[2]. The disorder is caused by an abnormality or damage to a brain structure called the fusiform gyrus, which plays a key role in processing and recognizing faces[1]. Prosopagnosia can be congenital and genetically determined, or acquired as a result of trauma, stroke, brain inflammation or tumors[3][4]. This disorder is estimated to affect approximately 2 percent of the population[1]. People with face blindness have severe problems in building relationships and identifying people in different contexts, although their other memory abilities may be intact[1][3].