Faces and Face Blindness (Prosopagnosia)

Even before written documentation, faces were recorded on material objects, capturing both human behaviors and medical conditions. Some were generic faces and others were historical portraits. Now, photography and digital technologies allow us to capture faces mechanically. Within this, imaging tools have given us access to how a brain may conceptualize faces, although we still do not know precisely how an artist paints a face Nor do we understand why some people fail to recognize faces. This chapter turns to neurotypical and neuroatypical faces in research, artistic practices, and as a medium of human communication. Topics include a summary of the face historically, research surrounding the inability to decipher faces (prosopagnosia), and the array of ways human faces influence neurocultural perspectives.