Prosopagnosia Essay

Prosopagnosia To the average person, collective interaction among friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances involves the recognition of each individual’s face. On a broad-spectrum, facial recognition is keen to many professions. Moreover, a notable profession that utilizes facial recognition is law enforcement, whereas, witnesses to a crime are obligated to provide facial details and accurate depictions of the individual responsible for the crime. Unfortunately, some individuals are prone to adversity, and in some cases, they do not possess the ability to distinguish a person’s face from other faces, objects, or even one’s very own face due to a neurological disorder known as prosopagnosia. According to the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), “. . . prosopagnosia comes from the Greek words for ‘face’ and ‘lack of knowledge’” (NINDS, 2007, para. 1). As one may tend to believe, prosopagnosia surprisingly has no correlation with “. . . memory dysfunction, memory loss, impaired vision, or learning disabilities (NINDS, 2007, para. 1). This abhorrent disorder, presented innately at birth or acquired through trauma to the brain, obstructs one’s social capabilities and presents numerous difficulties in treatment. Those born with this prosopagnosia face a greater challenge in treatment as they have not developed the ability to distinguish the difference between faces, sounds, smells, and touch relating to people. On the other hand, those who acquire this disorder through a traumatic event have an advantage in treatment, as they are able to distinguish or identify people through various methods.