PSYCH 120A Chapter Notes - Chapter 4.4: Fusiform Face Area, Birdwatching, Facial Recognition System
Document Summary
Prosopagnosia: normal vision but inability to recognize individual faces from photograph or in real life. Can tell if it"s a man or woman"s, young or old"s face. Cannot recognize self (thinks reflection is someone else) Prosopagnosia implies that there may be special neural structures exclusive in the recognition and discrimination of faces. Face recognition has a strong dependence on orientation. Some say that certain other types of face recognition are special in the same way. Prosopagnosic bird watcher loses the ability to recognize faces but also ability to distinguish types of warblers. Fusiform face area: specifically responsive to faces but also tasks requiring subtle distinctions among things such as birds or cars. Data does not provide clear resolution to the debate of whether the. Ffa is only for face recognition or if it is used in other forms of recognition. If two halves of different faces are matched together, participants will have difficulty focusing on just one half.
