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NEUROLOGY 1982;32:331
© 1982 American Academy of Neurology

Prosopagnosia

Anatomic basis and behavioral mechanisms

Antonio R. Damasio, M.D., Hanna Damasio, M.D. and Gary W. Van Hoesen, Ph.D.

Departments of Neurology (Drs. A. Damasio, H. Damasio, and Van Hoesen) and Anatomy (Dr. Van Hoesen), University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA.

Critical analysis of postmortem and CT scan data indicates that prosopagnosia is associated with bilateral lesions of the central visual system. Those lesions are located in the mesial occipitotemporal region and are functionally symmetric.

The prime factor in the appearance of prosopagnosia is the requirement to evoke the specific context of a given visual stimulus. The "ambiguity" of the stimulus (the frequency with which different members of a group are visually similar) is an adjuvant factor. But prosopagnosia is not specific to human faces. The phenomenon appears in relation to any visually "ambiguous" stimulus whose recognition depends on contextual memory evocation.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. A. Damasio, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242.

Supported by a University of Iowa Faculty Scholar Award (ARD) and NIH Grant No. NS 1494 (GWVH and ARD).

Accepted for publication September 21, 1981.




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