National Center for Advancing and Translational Sciences Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, a program of the National Center for Advancing and Translational Sciences

Developmental prosopagnosia


Other Names:
Face blindness; Prosopagnosia, developmental; Prosopagnosia, congenital; Face blindness; Prosopagnosia, developmental; Prosopagnosia, congenital; Prosopagnosia, hereditary; Hereditary prosopagnosia; Congenital prosopagnosia See More
Categories:
Developmental prosopagnosia is a lifelong condition that impairs a person's ability to recognize faces, in the absence of sensory visual problems and intellectual impairment.[1] People with this condition have normal intelligence and memory, typical low-level vision, and no history of brain injury. They typically learn to use non-face cues including voice, walking style (gait) and hairstyle to recognize others.[2][3] Symptoms that may vary include whether a person can perceive facial expressions normally, or recognize objects normally.[2] The underlying genetic cause of developmental prosopagnosia is not yet known.[4][5] Familial reports of this condition are consistent with autosomal dominant inheritance.[1][5]

Developmental prosopagnosia differs from acquired prosopagnosia, in which a person develops face recognition difficulties as a result of brain injury (for example, from a stroke or trauma).[3]
Last updated: 4/24/2017

This table lists symptoms that people with this disease may have. For most diseases, symptoms will vary from person to person. People with the same disease may not have all the symptoms listed. This information comes from a database called the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) . The HPO collects information on symptoms that have been described in medical resources. The HPO is updated regularly. Use the HPO ID to access more in-depth information about a symptom.

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Medical Terms Other Names
Learn More:
HPO ID
Percent of people who have these symptoms is not available through HPO
Autosomal dominant inheritance 0000006
Prosopagnosia
Face blindness
0010528
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Last updated: 7/1/2020

If you need medical advice, you can look for doctors or other healthcare professionals who have experience with this disease. You may find these specialists through advocacy organizations, clinical trials, or articles published in medical journals. You may also want to contact a university or tertiary medical center in your area, because these centers tend to see more complex cases and have the latest technology and treatments.

If you can’t find a specialist in your local area, try contacting national or international specialists. They may be able to refer you to someone they know through conferences or research efforts. Some specialists may be willing to consult with you or your local doctors over the phone or by email if you can't travel to them for care.

You can find more tips in our guide, How to Find a Disease Specialist. We also encourage you to explore the rest of this page to find resources that can help you find specialists.

Healthcare Resources

Research helps us better understand diseases and can lead to advances in diagnosis and treatment. This section provides resources to help you learn about medical research and ways to get involved.

Clinical Research Resources

  • The Centers for Mendelian Genomics program is working to discover the causes of rare genetic disorders. For more information about applying to the research study, please visit their website.
  • ClinicalTrials.gov lists trials that are related to Developmental prosopagnosia. Click on the link to go to ClinicalTrials.gov to read descriptions of these studies.

    Please note: Studies listed on the ClinicalTrials.gov website are listed for informational purposes only; being listed does not reflect an endorsement by GARD or the NIH. We strongly recommend that you talk with a trusted healthcare provider before choosing to participate in any clinical study.

These resources provide more information about this condition or associated symptoms. The in-depth resources contain medical and scientific language that may be hard to understand. You may want to review these resources with a medical professional.

In-Depth Information

  • The Monarch Initiative brings together data about this condition from humans and other species to help physicians and biomedical researchers. Monarch’s tools are designed to make it easier to compare the signs and symptoms (phenotypes) of different diseases and discover common features. This initiative is a collaboration between several academic institutions across the world and is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Visit the website to explore the biology of this condition.
  • Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) is a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders. Each entry has a summary of related medical articles. It is meant for health care professionals and researchers. OMIM is maintained by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 
  • PubMed is a searchable database of medical literature and lists journal articles that discuss Developmental prosopagnosia. Click on the link to view a sample search on this topic.

Questions sent to GARD may be posted here if the information could be helpful to others. We remove all identifying information when posting a question to protect your privacy. If you do not want your question posted, please let us know. Submit a new question

  • Is developmental prosopagnosia associated with autism? See answer


  1. Kniffin CL. PROSOPAGNOSIA, HEREDITARY. OMIM. March 3, 2009; https://www.omim.org/entry/610382.
  2. Gray KL, Bird G, Cook R. Robust associations between the 20-item prosopagnosia index and the Cambridge Face Memory Test in the general population. R Soc Open Sci. March 1, 2017; 4(3):http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/3/160923.
  3. Cook R, Biotti F. Developmental prosopagnosia. Curr Biol. April 25, 2016; 26(8):R312-313.
  4. Fisher K, Towler J, Eimer M. Face identity matching is selectively impaired in developmental prosopagnosia. Cortex. April, 2017; 89:11-27. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28189665.
  5. Cattaneo Z, Daini R, Malaspina M, Manai F, Lillo M, Fermi V, Schiavi S, Suchan B, Comincini S. Congenital prosopagnosia is associated with a genetic variation in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene: An exploratory study. Neuroscience. December 17, 2016; 339:162-173. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27693815.