Whose Face is that?

 Facial recognition is the process of being able to recognize the identity of a person using the features on their face. In order for one to recognize a face they must first analyze and capture the feature of the individual and then once shown the person again compare the features for similarity. Not everyone is capable of recognizing faces, infact there is a disease called Prosopagnosia which is basically the inability to recognize faces. While some may not suffer from prosopagnosia the way their brain processes a face is not the usual way. According to an article written by the National Institute of Neurological disorders and stroke, “The disorder is thought to be the result of congenital influence, damage, or impairment in a fold in the brain that appears to coordinate the neural systems controlling facial perception and memory (right fusiform gyrus)…Some degree of prosopagnosia is often present in children with autism and Asperger's syndrome and may be the cause of impaired social development.”  

Around two thirds of people who have an ASD encounter a difficulty when recognizing the faces of people they interact with even those on daily basis. According to the article titled, “Cortical Source Analysis of the Face Sensitive N290 ERP Component in Infants at High Risk for Autism” By Maggie Guy and colleagues, “Diagnosis with ASD typically occurs in early childhood; investigating the N290 and its cortical sources in infancy can provide important information about development of face processing in autism and inform early markers of ASD risk…The fusiform gyrus has been identified as the generator of the N290 in recent work examining developing face specialization” (pgs. 1-2). This showcases that there is a neural connection in the brain that affects one’s ability to recognize faces, but does this mean that those with Autism are bound to have low levels of facial awareness throughout their life’s, is this something that is progressive or something that just happens immediately after birth? 

            

The fusiform gyrus is considered to be a very important structure mainly because it specializes in the ability for one to compute and recognize objects, faces, and words. The disorder called face blindness occurs when there’s a damage or fold in the brain that specializes in this region which would be the right fusiform gyrus. There are different types of Autisms and also different symptoms so not all autistic people would have the same behavioral traits. The amygdala is said to be on the parts of the brain that’s affected by autism, and because of this those on the spectrum have difficulties’ when it comes to their social behavior. The deficit has been associated with hypoactivation of the fusiform face area, now not all autistic people suffer from prosopagnosia, but it is common for more than one third of them to show signs of the disorder.

 

The fact that not all autistic people suffer from this disorder showcases that prosopagnosia is not something that allows follows suit with autism rather it is a genetic issue and at the same time it depends on if the part of the brain responsible for facial recognition is affected. They are different levels on a spectrum which means that different parts of the brain are affected and to a certain level compared to others so whether or not the right fusiform which generate the N290 which in turn provide important information regarding the level in which one is able to recognize a face.