New test for prosopagnosia

A new test developed by face perception researchers could enable healthcare professionals to diagnose face blindness more accurately.

Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, when people cannot easily recognise differences between faces affects as many as three in every 100 people.

Dr Andrew Logan, from the University of Bradford's School of Optometry, along with colleagues at Glasgow Caledonian University and York University, Toronto, developed a test which involved presenting participants with four faces and asking them to identify the face that differed from the others.

The test used simplified face images, synthesised from real face photographs and was conducted on 52 adults with no known difficulties with face perception. A broad range of different discrimination thresholds were found and results were repeatable. In a subject with lifelong prosopagnosia, the new test produced deviations compared to existing tests for the condition.