Kirsch Leah, Evans Travis C, Fry Regan, Campbell Alison, DeGutis Joseph
Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston MA, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2025 Apr 27;40(3):409-424. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acae074.
Although elevated social anxiety in developmental prosopagnosia (DP) has been reported in anecdotal and qualitative studies, the current study sought to better quantify the prevalence, severity, and moderators of social anxiety in a large DP sample.
A total of 88 DPs and 58 controls completed the validated Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and assessments of face recognition, autism traits, personality (Big Five Inventory), and coping strategies.
DPs reported greater social anxiety symptoms (M = 30.25) than controls (M = 17.19), with 44% of DPs above a probable clinical cutoff compared with 14% of controls. Exploratory analyses revealed that DPs' social anxiety was more specific to items pertaining to mixing socially or interacting with unfamiliar people. Notably, several DPs reported minimal social anxiety, which was associated with being more extraverted and having fewer autism traits. A follow-up survey revealed that extraverted DPs more openly disclosed face recognition inabilities than introverted DPs, which may be a factor in their reduced social anxiety.
These results better quantify the potential serious psychosocial consequences of DP and highlight the importance of individual differences as well as targeted intervention.
尽管在一些轶事性和定性研究中报告了发展性面孔失认症（DP）患者社交焦虑水平升高，但本研究旨在更准确地量化一个大型DP样本中社交焦虑的患病率、严重程度及调节因素。
共有88名DP患者和58名对照者完成了经过验证的社交互动焦虑量表以及对面部识别、自闭症特征、人格（大五人格量表）和应对策略的评估。
DP患者报告的社交焦虑症状（M = 30.25）比对照者（M = 17.19）更严重，44%的DP患者超过了可能的临床临界值，而对照者中这一比例为14%。探索性分析表明，DP患者的社交焦虑在与社交场合中与陌生人交往或互动相关的项目上表现得更为突出。值得注意的是，一些DP患者报告社交焦虑程度很低，这与他们更外向且自闭症特征较少有关。一项后续调查显示，外向的DP患者比内向的DP患者更愿意公开承认自己存在面孔识别障碍，这可能是他们社交焦虑程度较低的一个因素。
这些结果更准确地量化了DP可能产生的严重心理社会后果，并突出了个体差异以及针对性干预的重要性。
