“I Know the Name, But I Can’t Place the Face”

Did You Know? There is a condition called prosopagnosia, or “face blindness,” in which people can’t recognize the faces of others. Prosopagnosia (Greek: “prosopon” = “face”, “agnosia” = “not knowing”) is a disorder of face perception where the ability to recognize faces is impaired, while the ability to recognize other objects may be relatively intact. Few successful therapies have so far been developed for affected people, although individuals often learn to use ‘piecemeal’ or ‘feature by feature’ recognition strategies. This may involve secondary clues such as clothing, gait, hair color, body shape, and voice. Because the face seems to function as an important identifying feature in memory, it can also be difficult for people with this condition to keep track of information about people, and socialize normally with others. LEARN MORE.