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Abnormal configural face perception in a patient with right anterior temporal lobe atrophy
Mark A Williams1, Greg Savage, Michael Halmagyi
1McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. markaw@mit.edu
Abstract:
Face perception is a vital aspect of human social functioning and involves specialized cognitive and neural mechanisms. For example, configural face processing involves determining the relationship between the parts of the face, and this process enables us to differentiate between different faces. Here, we report an unusual case in which right anterior temporal lobe atrophy resulted in a profound deficit in the ability to recognize faces. We demonstrate that this patient is not able to process faces via configural information, raising the possibility that the right anterior temporal lobe has a role in configural face processing.
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