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Prosopagnosia, also called face-blindness, is a condition that leaves its sufferers unable to recognize faces, even those of close friends and relatives.

For a long time, prosopagnosia was vastly misunderstood and usually thought to be a result of a traumatic head injury, but we now know that about 2 percent of the population is born with the condition.

It is believed that prosopagnosia is caused by a developmental defect in the part of the brain that’s responsible for filing away faces for future reference, the fusiform gyrus.

Even with this improved understanding, prosopagnosia can still be difficult to diagnose because the afflicted often find other ways to compensate for their inability to recognize faces.

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