Researchers develop test to diagnose 'face blindness'

Scientists from the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King's College London have created a short questionnaire for people who suspect they have prosopagnosia, a condition that causes an inability to recognise faces. The researchers hope the questionnaire will help improve diagnosis of the condition. There are currently no tests that can conclusively diagnose prosopagnosia - more commonly known as 'face blindness' - which is estimated to affect up to 2 per cent of people in the UK. Many people with face blindness cope by using alternative ways to recognise individuals, such as the way they walk, hairstyle or voice. It can often lead to people avoiding social situations and feeling embarrassed about actual or imagined offence to others. The new 20 item questionnaire asks respondents to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with certain phrases about their facial recognition experiences. Some of the questions include: I have always had a bad memory for faces I often mistake people I have met before for strangers I sometimes find movies hard to follow because of difficulties recognising characters At family gatherings, I sometimes confuse individual family members.