Understanding the Relationship Between Developmental Prosopagnosia and the Fusiform Face Area in Face Recognition

Abstract

Prosopagnosia is an impairment in face recognition, in which individuals cannot recognize familiar faces. Furthermore, prosopagnosia can be divided into one of its subtypes known as developmental prosopagnosia (DP). A key distinguishing feature of DP is the presence of facial recognition deficits since childhood without an obvious brain lesion causing the agnosia. The neurological basis of DP has yet to be fully understood. This literature review compares typical face-processing individuals and DP individuals, focusing on the extent to which those with and without DP perceive faces differently. Challenges such as the ‘face-inversion effect,’ object recognition, changes in facial configurations, and viewing faces holistically are reviewed. Research has found that individuals with DP lack the same sensitivity to the several challenges given while viewing faces compared to individuals with normal facial recognition. The fusiform face area (FFA), a brain region selective for face recognition, elicits activity when participants identify and respond to upright faces. The FFA activity in DP subjects produces mixed results, with functional magnetic resonance imaging studies showing FFA activity, while other studies do not. Structural connectivity between the FFA and other subregions responsive to faces in DP may contribute to face recognition deficits, leading toward a possible avenue for future research on developmental prosopagnosia.