万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-02-16&18, 那些遗忘的面孔

The condition called "face blindness", but those who have it see perfectly¹ fine. It's just that they can't process what anyone looks like even members of their own family. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more in the second part of this series Mysteries of the Brain. He joins us from Atlanta. This is so fascinating, Sanjay, tell us about it.

Yeah, it really is very interesting. It's called prosopagnosia, most people do not know the face blindness like you said. Look, we've all had times when we forget a name, maybe we forget a face. But this is truly a medical condition as we learned, it can be very debilitating².

Glenn has spent his entire life forgetting faces.

Most people expect that you are going to be able to recognize them in label. / I can't really do that very effectively.

His condition is called prosopagnosia, or more commonly, face blindness. It can cause problems even identifying close family members or remembering a face just moments after turning away from it.

Glenn, whose case is more severe than most, often can’t recognize his own face.

One of the reasons that I grew out the beard, and one of the reasons that I walk around with my hats so much is to hopefully prevent me from walking into mirrors.

His condition also affects his job at a retail³ store. He says he won’t get promoted, because he can’t recognize his co-workers. More troubling, his inability to recognize others in social settings drives him into isolation⁴.

I feel like, you know, it will be really nice if I could go out do this kind of thing with a bunch of other people and not be so worried about the difficulties.

Glenn's face blindness is the result of a head injury he suffered as a toddler. But many others are born with the condition. And it's not that rare. At 2006, Institute of Human Genetics study found as many as one in fifty people have some form of face blindness. Researchers still can't pinpoint⁵ the cause, but say it's most likely linked to an area of the brain called the fusiform gyrus, which shows activity in response to seeing faces.

Now that we know that prosopagnosia is much more common, I think there is gonna be much more effort to figure out how to help these people.

Blind to the faces of others, still seeing the face, the eyes…

There is no medical treatment for face blindness yet. But Glenn has a message.

Be consoled, because, though I may not remember your face, I will remember you.

This is a remarkable⁶ thing, you know. You talk a lot about children as well, who might have this sort of problem, they can't recognize other kids in the playground; they grow up with this condition, sometimes not being able to recognize your spouse⁷ either. One woman told us that in fact, she is in a crowded room and looks at a mirror with a bunch of face, she has to make a funny face like raising eyebrows⁸ to recognize her own face, so pretty remarkable, Alina(这里应该是女主播的名字).

Oh, My Gosh, this is incredible. I'm, I am curious, Sanjay. Is there any way for them to recognize other people, I mean, for instance, like with blind people, maybe there is voice recognition and, you know, you hear a familiar voice, you might not see their face, but you know who they are, so is there a way for them to do that?

Yeah, you know, it's, it's pretty remarkable. First of all, you give them an eye test, their vision is perfectly fine. There appears to be something in the way that the face, specifically the face is actually processed the way we've evolved as human beings can't recognize the face, but can recognize the objects, can recognize er, voices as you pointed⁹ out also recognize hair colors, specific distinguishing features that act as cues to let them get through the day. It can be debilitating but people seem to cope just by finding these cues.

1 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

2 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

3 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

4 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

5 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

6 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

7 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

8 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

9 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。