New online test detects facial blindness

Are you blind to the face? A new online test allows the detection of prosopagnosia
British scientists have developed a test to identify signs of facial blindness (prosopagnosia). Online can now test whether there may be a weakness in the face recognition. The project involved researchers from various London universities, including King's College London and University College London.

The medical term "prosopagnosia" describes the inability to recognize humans by their faces alone. In the most extreme form, those affected can not even recognize their family or friends by face alone, the British news channel BBC reports. Milder forms are often subconsciously a burden for those affected. They use off-the-face recognition features such as hairstyle, clothing, language, posture, or the like as a means of identifying their fellow human beings. Especially with these less pronounced forms of prosopagnosia, many sufferers will be unaware of their facial recognition weakness and feel that they only have a bad memory for faces. With the easy-to-perform online test here now a better identification of those affected will be made possible.

A face recognition weakness can be determined well with the new online test. (Image: lassedesignen / fotolia.com)

According to the British researchers, prosopagnosia may be congenital but may also be caused by brain damage. The severity of the facial recognition weakness can be extremely different and the prosopagnosia is sometimes not recognized as such by those affected. The research team around Dr. Richard Cookvom University College London has therefore developed a 20-point questionnaire to help identify prosopagnosia.

For example, participants in the test should self-assess their face recognition ability or evaluate how they have difficulty recognizing someone changing their hairstyle. For each of the 20 submitted statements, the match should be scored on a scale of one to five, with five points indicating a complete match and one point for the complete rejection of the statement. On the basis of the score achieved, according to the researchers, it is clear whether or not there is a face recognition weakness. The Prosopagnosie test is in English, but overall relatively easy to understand and open to anyone interested. (Fp)