Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Cortex. 2011 May;47(5):598-607. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2010.04.009. Epub 2010 May 21.
Studies of developmental deficits in face recognition, or developmental prosopagnosia, have shown that individuals who have not suffered brain damage can show face recognition impairments coupled with normal object recognition (Duchaine and Nakayama, 2005; Duchaine et al., 2006; Nunn et al., 2001). However, no developmental cases with the opposite dissociation - normal face recognition with impaired object recognition - have been reported. The existence of a case of non-face developmental visual agnosia would indicate that the development of normal face recognition mechanisms does not rely on the development of normal object recognition mechanisms.
To see whether a developmental variant of non-face visual object agnosia exists, we conducted a series of web-based object and face recognition tests to screen for individuals showing object recognition memory impairments but not face recognition impairments. Through this screening process, we identified AW, an otherwise normal 19-year-old female, who was then tested in the lab on face and object recognition tests.
AW's performance was impaired in within-class visual recognition memory across six different visual categories (guns, horses, scenes, tools, doors, and cars). In contrast, she scored normally on seven tests of face recognition, tests of memory for two other object categories (houses and glasses), and tests of recall memory for visual shapes. Testing confirmed that her impairment was not related to a general deficit in lower-level perception, object perception, basic-level recognition, or memory.
AW's results provide the first neuropsychological evidence that recognition memory for non-face visual object categories can be selectively impaired in individuals without brain damage or other memory impairment. These results indicate that the development of recognition memory for faces does not depend on intact object recognition memory and provide further evidence for category-specific dissociations in visual recognition.
对面部识别（发展性失认症）发展缺陷的研究表明，没有遭受脑损伤的个体可能表现出面部识别障碍，同时伴有正常的物体识别（Duchaine 和 Nakayama，2005；Duchaine 等人，2006；Nunn 等人，2001）。然而，没有报道过相反的分离——正常的面部识别与受损的物体识别——的发展病例。非面部发展性视觉失认症病例的存在表明，正常面部识别机制的发展并不依赖于正常物体识别机制的发展。
为了研究是否存在非面部视觉物体失认的发展性变体，我们进行了一系列基于网络的物体和面部识别测试，以筛选出表现出物体识别记忆障碍但无面部识别障碍的个体。通过这一筛选过程，我们发现了 AW，一名 19 岁的正常女性，然后在实验室中对她进行了面部和物体识别测试。
AW 在六个不同视觉类别（枪支、马匹、场景、工具、门和汽车）的类别内视觉识别记忆方面表现受损。相比之下，她在七个面部识别测试、两个其他物体类别（房屋和眼镜）的记忆测试以及视觉形状的回忆记忆测试中得分正常。测试证实，她的障碍与一般的低水平感知、物体感知、基本水平识别或记忆缺陷无关。
AW 的结果提供了第一个神经心理学证据，表明非面部视觉物体类别识别记忆可以在没有脑损伤或其他记忆障碍的个体中选择性受损。这些结果表明，面部识别记忆的发展不依赖于完整的物体识别记忆，并为视觉识别中的类别特异性分离提供了进一步的证据。
