Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is the inability to recognize faces. In severe cases, individuals with prosopagnosia may not recognize close family members, including parents and spouses, by their faces. For instance, someone with prosopagnosia might walk past their child in a crowd, only realizing their mistake upon noticing their child's distinctive backpack or favorite jacket. Prosopagnosia specifically impairs facial recognition, while the recognition of other objects or...

Visual Agnosia

Visual Agnosia

Visual agnosia is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize visually presented objects despite having normal vision. For instance, a person with visual agnosia can describe the shape and color of an object but cannot identify or name it. This impairment does not affect their visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, or memory. An example of this condition in a social setting is someone at a dinner party asking for "that silver thing with a round end"...

Lateralization

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Cortical correlates of apathy in cerebral autosomal-dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy with two different pathogenic mutations in the NOTCH3 gene.

Neuropsychology·2026

Same author

From mild cognitive impairment to normal cognition in Parkinson's disease: The role of brain network architecture.

Neurobiology of disease·2026

Same author

Effect of tactile stimulation in disorders of consciousness: a systematic review.

Brain injury·2026

Same author

Tailoring educational interventions targeting parental vaccine hesitancy: a systematic review of quantitative studies.

Frontiers in public health·2026

Same author

Neural correlates of social cognition in stroke and traumatic brain injury: A systematic review.

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience·2026

Same author

Selective contralesional constructional hemi-apraxia after unilateral brain damage: Which relationship with unilateral spatial neglect?

Journal of neuropsychology·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 26, 2026

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Published on: April 11, 2025

Unilateral left prosopometamorphopsia: a neuropsychological case study.

Luigi Trojano¹, Massimiliano Conson, Sara Salzano

¹Neuropsychology Laboratory, Dept. of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy. luigi.trojano@unina2.it

Neuropsychologia

|January 13, 2009

Summary

A woman experienced distorted facial perceptions after childbirth, specifically affecting the left side of faces. This selective visual processing deficit persisted, offering new insights into how the brain recognizes faces.

More Related Videos

Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection

Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection

Published on: March 10, 2021

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 26, 2026

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Published on: April 11, 2025

Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection

Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection

Published on: March 10, 2021

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Vision Science

Background:

Facial recognition is a complex cognitive process.
Metamorphopsia is a visual disorder characterized by distorted perceptions.
Postpartum neurological conditions can manifest in diverse ways.

Observation:

A patient developed prosopometamorphopsia, perceiving the left half of faces as distorted after childbirth.
Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was normal, but Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) revealed hypoperfusion in the left infero-lateral occipital cortex.
The patient exhibited no deficits in recognizing objects or faces generally.

Findings:

The patient showed significant impairment in matching tasks involving chimeric faces where the left half was altered.
Performance remained consistent over a one-year period, indicating chronic impairment.
No such deficits were observed when matching chimeric objects, suggesting face-specific processing disruption.

Implications:

This case provides the first behavioral evidence of chronic, selective metamorphopsia affecting the left side of faces.
Findings contribute to understanding the neural basis of face perception and hemispheric specialization.
The results offer new insights for refining models of human face processing and its potential vulnerabilities.