ABSTRACT
Prosopagnosia (“not knowing faces” in Greek) is a rare neurological syndrome that consists of inability to recognize familiar faces in the absence of severe intellectual, sensory, or cognitive impairment. Apparently, it is the result of a failure to extract physiognomic invariants or associated semantic memories (Damasio, Damasio, & Tranel, 1990; Young, 1988). The term prosopagnosia was coined by Bodamer in 1947, although earlier reports (e.g., by Wigan in 1844, Charcot in 1888, and Wilbrand in 1892) of patients showing this syndrome had appeared in the literature before (see Ellis, 1989).
