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Developmental Prosopagnosia, otherwise known as Childhood Prosopagnosia or Congenital Prosopagnosia, is a form of Prosopagnosia that is present from birth. While a common for of prosopagnosia is caused by a brain lesion to the Fusiform Face Area of the brain, Developmental Prosopagnosia is present from birth without the presence of any form of brain damage. It is estimated that around 2.5% of the population has Developmental Prosopagnosia.

Although Developmental Prosopagnosia is present from birth, many prosopagnosic children only understand that they have prosopagnosia once they reach adulthood. This is due to subtle symptoms occurring, so neither the child or parent will notice that anything is abnormal. This is very different from other forms of developmental disorders, such as Language Disorders, where symptoms, such as language delay, are much more apparent, further aiding in Diagnosis and recognition of Language disorders. This can add to difficulties in diagnosis of prosopagnosia.

The difficulties faced by prosopagnosic children include difficulty in recognizing friends and close family, effecting social relationships. As a result of this, a child is more likely to befriend children that have more distinguishing features, such as a noticeable piece of clothing due to difficulty in recognizing other children by facial features, and may recognise by the clothing or voice of others. This can effect social interactions, as it can restrict the number of friends a prosopagnosic child has and make it difficult to recognize familiar people and their relationship to these people. As this form of deficit is not seen as abnormal, it can lead to a further delay in Diagnosis. As Prosopagnosia occurs in the absence of sight problems, and children with Prosopagnosia adapt by using other visual or verbal cues to identify others.

Developmental Prosopagnosia is lifelong, meaning that it is present from birth until death. Therefore it is no less common for adults to have Developmental Prosopagnosia. It is stated by Oliver Sacks that he himself was prosopagnosic and was unaware of his prosopagnosia until adulthood, when he failed to recognize one of his brothers. Oliver Sacks had previously studied Prosopagnosia, but was not aware he had the disorder himself.

A Diagnosis for Prosopagnosia begins by testing vision, to ensure that difficulties in face processing is not due to any visual problems, such as Near-sightedness or Far-sightedness, as Prosopagnosia is a Neurological disorder and not an impairment in vision. Further tests may include tests for cognitive processes, such as Language, Memory and Perception, however, a test in general object recognition is performed to ensure that the absence in the recognition of faces is not due to general difficulty in object recognition. The test for Prosopagnosia involved the patient viewing images of faces, such as friends and family members, or faces commonly seen in the media, to see if the patient can recognise the faces. Tests that are used to test for potential prosopagnosia include the Cambridge Face Memory Test and the Cambridge Face Perception Test. If the faces are not recognized by the patient, including images of friends or family, then a diagnosis of Prosopagnosia can be made.

Prosopagnosia is formed due to a deficit in the Fusiform Face Area of the brain located in the Fusiform gyrus located in the Temporal Lobe of the brain. The cause of Prosopagnosia is typically cause by some form of brain lesion to the Fusiform Face Area. This can include Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke, internal bleeding and Cardiac arrest, among others, though a lesion in either the Occipital Face Area located in the Occipital lobe, the Superior temporal sulcus located in the Temporal lobe can cause the condition , as these can lead to difficulties with disconnections of emotional,semantic and Biographic information about a person, and the information about a person's facial appearance in the brain, have been found in some cases of Prosopagnosia. One theory, known as the Face-Specific Spacing Hypothesis, claim that the brain recognizes a face by specific patterns in spacing that enabled the brain to recognize that a face is present. Developmental Prosopagnosia is not caused by any form of injury, but is formed before birth, however, the Fusiform Face Area is unable to distinguish faces. As a result, there is no cure, and minimal treatment, for prosopagnosia, and there is no evidence of a successful treatment in Developmental Prosopagnosia. It has been found in an fMRI study that patients with Developmental Prosopagnosia do not have the same brain activations in these areas as individuals without Prosopagnosia, suggesting that these areas failed to develop to recognize faces.

In cases of Autism, some of the symptoms can present similarly to symptoms of Prosopagnosia. This is possibly due to the affect of a lack of Eye contact in the case of autistic individuals, that may later present recognition difficulties similar to those of Prosopagnosic patients. Although these difficulties are different in Autism and Developmental Prosopagnosia in the case of the difference in Symptoms, it is possible for a Diagnosis of both Prosopagnosia and Autism to be made. The difficulty with diagnosing prosopagnosia in autistic children is made additionally complicated, as many autistic children lack appropriate Eye contact which can effect face recognition, it is sometimes unclear if the difficulties in face recognition is due to a lack of Eye contact or a possibility of Developmental Prosopagnosia , as difficulties in face recognition have been found to be more prevelant in Children with Autism than children with similar disorders. This can make Prosopagnosia more difficult to diagnose, as the lack of face recognition is due to a lack of eye contact and therefore, not paying attention to someones Face, or if the difficulties in facial recognition is due to Developmental Prosopagnosia. It is unlikely, however, to be caused by another neurological condition.

Developmental Prosopagnosia is highly heritable, meaning that those in the Immediate family of an individual with Developmental Prosopagnosia is at a higher risk of developing Prosopagnosia. It is further found that twins are at a much higher risk of developing Prosopagnosia if the other twin is prosopagnosic, and this risk increases if the twins are Monozygotic twins in comparison to Dizygotic twins. It has been stated by Oliver Sacks that many members of his Family had difficulties in Face perception after learning that he himself was prosopagnosic. A link to a deficit in the OXTR has been linked to the development of Developmental Prosopagnosia.

Prosopagnosia can co-occur with emotional difficulties due to a number of factors. These can include emotional attachments with others due to an inability to recognize familiar people, and relying on other Visual and auditory cues. Children with Prosopagnosia may have difficulty in forming meaningful relationships and affect social interactions due to the difficulty in Facial recognition. The difficulty of children not realizing that this inability to recognize faces is abnormal add on to the difficulty in social interactions, especially later in life. This can add to further difficulties in the Mental health of those with Prosopagnosia, especially in concerns in regards to safety and social relationships.