The Fascinating Curse of Face Blindness: Meet the Celebrities and Scientists Suffering from Prosopagnosia

Individuals such as legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, actor Brad Pitt, and the late British neurologist Oliver Sacks have something in common – a condition known as prosopagnosia, or face blindness. This is a neurological disorder that causes people to struggle with remembering and recognizing familiar or famous faces, despite having normal visual acuity and sensitivity to contrast.

Prosopagnosia is a disorder of higher visual function that affects individuals’ ability to recognize faces or tell them apart. Professor Christopher M. Filley, a specialist in behavioral neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, explains that people with prosopagnosia can see a visual image but are unable to recognize the face due to their brains’ inability to process facial elements.

Previously considered rare, recent studies suggest that face blindness may be more prevalent than thought. A study published in the journal Cortex in 2023 indicates that face blindness exists on a continuum of severity and symptoms rather than as a discrete group of people. Estimates suggest that prosopagnosia affects between 1 and 5 percent of adults.

Cognitive neuroscientist Joe DeGutis, codirector of the Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory at the VA Boston Healthcare System, explains that individuals with severe prosopagnosia may struggle with recognizing even close loved ones in certain situations. They rely heavily on context to identify individuals, leading to challenges in recognizing people in unexpected circumstances despite familiarity in more predictable settings.