When family looks strange and strangers look normal: A case of impaired face perception and recognition after stroke

Abstract

We describe a patient (JS) with impaired recognition and distorted visual perception of faces after an ischemic stroke. Strikingly, JS reports that the faces of family members look distorted, while faces of other people look normal. After neurological and neuropsychological examination, we assessed response accuracy, response times, and skin conductance responses on a face recognition task in which photographs of close family members, celebrities and unfamiliar people were presented. JS' performance was compared to the performance of three healthy control participants. Results indicate that three aspects of face perception appear to be impaired in JS. First, she has impaired recognition of basic emotional expressions. Second, JS has poor recognition of familiar faces in general, but recognition of close family members is disproportionally impaired compared to faces of celebrities. Third, JS perceives faces of family members as distorted. In this paper we consider whether these impairments can be interpreted in terms of previously described disorders of face perception and recent models for face perception.