A few days ago, American actor Brad Pitt revealed that he suffered from a face recognition disorder. But what does that mean?
What is prosopagnosia?
“It just means an inability to recognize faces. When your eyes receive images, this signal is sent to the brain in its various structures, including the occipital lobe. The images are analyzed in this way”, explained the Dr Julien J. Cavanagh.
Who can suffer from it?
“Humans aren’t the only ones with this face recognition ability. Some animals also have this ability. There are humans who are born without this ability. There are others who lose this ability due to a tumor, an autoimmune disease or a stroke, ”explained the doctor.
Brad Pitt is also one of the people who have never had this ability.
“But we don’t know to what degree. The experience he shares is that during Hollywood events, he has a bit of a reputation for being a snob and not being interested in other people, but in fact, he has a hard time recognize,” he continued.
How many people live with this?
“What’s remarkable is that people who are born like him don’t necessarily realize it. So it’s hard to know how many people suffer from it. We have more data on people who have lost the capacity, but it is still rare, “said Mr. Cavanagh.
