Barbara Wilson
Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, England
Title: My Brain Doesn’t Know Me Any More: Prosopagnosia, An Insider’s Point Of View
Biography
Biography: Barbara Wilson
Abstract
Imagine having good eyesight, being able to read well, name objects and know whether someone’s emotional expression signifies, happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust or surprise and yet be unable to recognise your spouse, your children or even yourself. This is what Claire, a wife, mother and former nurse experiences every day. Claire survived an illness, encephalitis, in 2004, which did not affect her physical ability, her language or her basic vision but left her with face blindness also known as prosopagnosia. Part one of this presentation consists of a detailed description of prosopagnosia, including a summary of the differences between those who can recognise people by voice or name and those, like Claire, who have lost semantic knowledge of people. Part two is a personal account from Claire herself, who explains what it is like to be unable to recognise her family and friends and how this has affected her identity. At first she felt she was in an unknown world, one where all the parameters had changed. She did not know herself or anyone else. She was very confused with her own feelings of ‘self’ and how and where she fitted in. Even now Claire feels that nobody knows very much about the person she is, least of all Claire herself, who observes that she is alone, a stranger to herself. Claire concludes by telling her story, including a little about her rehabilitation and her situation ten years after the illness.