Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Prosopagnosia01:24

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...
Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Visual Agnosia01:12

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"...
Facial Feedback Hypothesis01:24

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Charles Darwin proposed that facial expressions are an evolutionary adaptation for communication. He argued that these expressions are not influenced by culture but are universal across species. For example, a snarling expression with exposed teeth signals a threat in many animals, including humans. Darwin also suggested that displaying an emotion can intensify the feeling. Smiling, for example, could enhance one's sense of happiness. This idea laid the foundation for understanding the role of...
Cranial Nerves: Types Part I01:14

Cranial Nerves: Types Part I

Cranial nerves are responsible for transmitting motor and sensory information between the brain and various parts of the body. There are twelve pairs of cranial nerves, with the first six being essential in sensory perception, motor control, and autonomic functions related to the head and neck.
Olfactory Nerve (Cranial Nerve I)
The olfactory nerve, or cranial nerve I, is unique as it is purely sensory and dedicated to the sense of smell. This nerve originates in the olfactory epithelium of the...
Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure01:03

Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure

The process of olfaction, also known as the sense of smell, is a sophisticated chemical response system. The specialized sensory neurons that facilitate this process, known as olfactory receptor neurons, are situated in an upper segment of the nasal cavity, known as the olfactory epithelium. Olfactory sensory neurons are bipolar, with their dendrites extending from the epithelium's apex into the mucus that lines the nasal cavity. Airborne molecules, when inhaled, traverse the olfactory...

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

The impact of language proficiency on task-dependent neural activity and functional connectivity: insights from deafness.

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)·2026
Same author

Rapid Changes of Attentional Priorities in Visual Search: Tracking Covert Switches of Preparatory Attentional Templates in Real Time.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2025
Same author

The Guidance of Attentional Selectivity in Visual Search Is Always Feature-Based: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence From Feature and Conjunction Search Tasks.

Psychophysiology·2025
Same author

Overlooked neuroanatomical markers of face processing and developmental prosopagnosia in posteromedial cortex.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Developmental prosopagnosics have normal spatial integration in posterior ventral face-selective regions.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Do young and older adult populations perform equivalently across different automatic face-trait judgements? Evidence for differential impacts of ageing.

PloS one·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome
08:31

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Published on: July 31, 2016

The face-sensitive N170 component in developmental prosopagnosia.

John Towler1, Angela Gosling, Bradley Duchaine

  • 1Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.

Neuropsychologia
|October 25, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) have trouble recognizing faces. Their brains show normal early face sensitivity but often fail to distinguish between upright and inverted faces.

More Related Videos

Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children
09:32

Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children

Published on: June 30, 2014

Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software
06:50

Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software

Published on: October 30, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 17, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome
08:31

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Published on: July 31, 2016

Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children
09:32

Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children

Published on: June 30, 2014

Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software
06:50

Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software

Published on: October 30, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterized by significant face recognition difficulties without neurological injury.
  • Understanding the temporal dynamics of face processing in DP is crucial for identifying underlying mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the time-course of face processing in individuals with DP.
  • To examine the neural correlates of face perception using event-related potentials (ERPs).

Main Methods:

  • Measured the N170 component of ERPs in 16 participants with DP and 16 age-matched controls.
  • Assessed responses to upright and inverted faces compared to houses.

Main Results:

  • Both DP and control groups showed enhanced N170 amplitudes for upright faces versus houses, indicating preserved early face sensitivity in DP.
  • The typical N170 face inversion effect was observed in controls but absent in individuals with DP.
  • This inversion effect was present in younger controls but not older controls, and absent in both younger and older DP participants.

Conclusions:

  • Early visual processing sensitivity to faces appears intact in most individuals with DP.
  • The face processing system in many with DP may not be finely tuned to the canonical upright orientation of faces.
  • These findings suggest a specific deficit in orientation-specific face processing in DP.