Face-Recognition Research Team

Team Members

Dr Ashok Jansari (Team Leader)

Introduction

Face recognition is a vital skill used in survival to work out whether one has encountered someone before and if so, whether they are friend or foe. The skill is important socially for forming bonds; also, not recognising someone can, at the least, lead to social embarrassment but can have bigger consequences. Other forms of information can be very useful (e.g., voice), but a person’s identity can be worked out at a distance without any interaction simply from a face. In rare cases of brain-damage, face recognition can be disrupted severely, leaving the sufferer with a condition known as acquired prosopagnosia or face-blindness (e.g., Jansari et al, 2008). Research has begun to show that the condition can also occur without any known brain damage and be present from childhood, a condition known as developmental prosopagnosia; estimates suggest that 2.5 per cent of children fall into this category. There can be consequences to the child’s development and socialisation as a result of the unknown impairment, but this is an area that to date has not been researched well. Most people who have this form of the condition do not know if they have it since they develop compensatory skills to recognise individuals through alternative means, such as voice, clothing, etc. They usually go undiagnosed but often have negative feelings about themselves and their abilities brought on by the impairment. Finally, in a recent study by Russell, Duchaine and Nakayama (2009), individuals who are at the other end of this face-recognition spectrum have been identified; these individuals, known as super-recognisers are able to recognise, with great ease, people that they will only have met briefly many years ago. The first research in the UK to address this phenomenon was undertaken as part of an MSc project at UEL producing very promising corroborative findings (Sparrow, 2010).

Face-recognition problems can occur at a number of different levels:

Visual sensory problems, such as problems with shape discrimination, can mean that faces are not perceived properly. The most famous case of this kind is Dr P., “The man who mistook his wife for a hat” (Sacks, 2005).
Perception involves integrating all of the information together into a whole, or “Gestalt”. Not being able to do this might mean that even though someone can see all of the parts of a face individually, they may not be able to see a face as a whole.
Impaired recognition of individuals can be due to problems accessing stored memories of known faces. If a person isn’t able to compare the face in front of them with memories of people they know they won’t be able to recognise them.

Ten things to know about prosopagnosia and super-recognition

The word “prosopagnosia” comes from the Greek word “agnosia”, meaning loss of knowledge and “prosopo”, meaning face.
As many as two per cent of the population may be affected by developmental prosopagnosia.
The term “prosopagnosia” was first used in 1947 by German neurologist Joachim Bodamer.
Prosopagnosia that someone has had since birth or very early childhood is called “developmental prosopagnosia”. In such cases there is usually no known medical cause.
Prosopagnosia can also occur as a result of brain injury, as a result of a stroke for example. This type of prosopagnosia is referred to as “acquired prosopagnosia”.
Recent research suggests that developmental prosopagnosia may have a genetic basis.
Experts believe that a particular part of the brain is specifically involved in processing and recognising faces. This part is called the Fusiform Face Area (FFA).
It has been observed that many prosopagnosics show an emotional (autonomic) response to familiar faces they cannot consciously recognise (this is called covert recognition).
Only one paper has been published to date on super-recognition so we know very little about it!
The study of prosopagnosia and super-recognition is crucial to the development of theories of face perception.

What influence does prosopagnosia have on someone’s life?

Prosopagnosia can be very upsetting for the sufferer and their family. Imagine if you weren’t able to recognise your own family and friends. Many sufferers develop ways of compensating for their problem by learning to identify people by their clothes or hairstyle. People with prosopagnosia frequently walk past their friends and relatives in the street and make embarrassing errors like approaching the wrong person in a shop or bar. Some prosopagnosics don’t even recognise their own face in a mirror or photograph.

Why are prosopagnosia and super-recognition interesting to study?

By studying prosopagnosia, we are able to find out more about the processes involved in normal face recognition and what can cause it to fail. Research with prosopagnosics and super-recognisers as well as ‘normal’ participants is enormously beneficial for the development of various models of face processing. The most influential model so far has been that of Bruce and Young (1986). However, there are still things this model doesn’t explain and research continues to try to refine it. Ultimately, models of face recognition can also be used in society for applications like face-recognition software and finding ways for helping those with profound impairments.

What research are we doing at the moment?

Face-recognition research currently taking place at UEL:

Live Science research study on face-recognition skills in the general population (at the Science Museum in London)
Covert recognition in prosopagnosia
When configural processing fails in prosopagnosia
Mental imagery in prosopagnosia
Differences between acquired and developmental prosopagnosia
Development of rehabilitation techniques to help people with prosopagnosia

How can I find out if I have prosopagnosia?

Some of the tests commonly used to diagnose prosopagnosia are available here for you to try:
www.namethatface.org.

How can I be involved in face-recognition research?

We are always looking for prosopagnosics, super-recognisers and people with ‘average’ face recognition to take part in our research. If you are interested in finding out more about the research we are doing at the moment or would like to volunteer, please contact us: our contact details are given at the bottom of this page.

Recent publications from the Prosopagnosia Research Team

Jansari, A., Fogg, C., Sukthankar, R., & Michael, J. (2011). Saving face: assessing rehabilitative training procedures in acquired and developmental prosopagnosia. Brain Impairment, 12, 51.
Jansari, A., Miller, S., Pearce, L., Chan, J., & Nicholls, A. (2008). The man who mistook his neuropsychologist for a popstar: when configural processing fails in selective prosopagnosia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(2), 117.

Please contact us

Please contact us using the details below if you would like to do any of the following.

Discover whether you have prosopagnosia.
Discover whether you are a super-recogniser.
Find out more about prosopagnosia research.
Be involved in our research here at UEL.
Know further details about our recent publications and conference presentations.

Our contact details

Prosopagnosia Research Team
FAO Dr Ashok Jansari
School of Psychology
The University of East London
Stratford Campus
Water Lane
London E14 5LZ
United Kingdom

Email: a.jansari@uel.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 8223 4943
Fax: +44 (0)20 8223 4937