Prosopagnosia: A clinicopathological study

Two cases of prosopagnosia (failure to recognize faces) are presented, together with the autopsy findings. Only 7 other cases of prosopagnosia caused by pathologically verified occlusive vascular lesions have been described. All the patients had significant bilateral lesions of the cerebral hemispheres, at least one being in the medial‐ventral occipital region. In our patients the bilateral lesions were grossly symmetrical in the distribution of the posterior cerebral arteries but with somewhat more extensive involvement on one side. In all reported cases one or both fusiform gyri were destroyed, and there were variably sized lesions in the pericalcarine structures. These findings suggest that the fusiform gyrus functions as a visual association area for the recognition of specific faces.