Face Blindness May be More Common than Thought脸盲症可能比想象中的更常见

肖雅琪

Do you find it difficult to remember faces？ If so， you may have a form ofprosopagnosia1—or “face blindness”. This includes the inability2 to recognizefaces youve seen before， even those of friends or family.

你是否觉得记住面孔很难呢？如果是这样，你可能患有一种形式的面孔失认症———或者“脸盲症”。症状包括无法认出你之前见过的面孔，甚至是朋友或家人的面孔。

It was believed that face blindness affected just over 2% of people in the worldbefore. But it may be more common than that， according to new research.

之前，人们认为世界上只有2%的人患有脸盲症。但是根据新的研究，它可能比想象中的更常见。

Researchers asked over 3，100 adult participants3 in the US questions abouttheir experiences recognizing faces in daily life. Then， they gave them two tests thatlooked at their ability to learn new faces.

研究人员询问了超过3100 名美国成年受试者关于他们在日常生活中识别人脸经历的问题。然后，他们对受试者进行了两个测试，看看他们识记新面孔的能力。

The study found that 31 of theparticipants had major4 prosopagnosia，while 72 had a milder5 form—so about 3%in total. They also found no clear dividebetween people with a good or bad ability torecognize faces—and people with majorprosopagnosia did not always score theworst on the tests. The results insteadshowed more possibility.

研究发现有31 名受试者患有严重的面孔失认症，而72 名受试者患有较轻的面孔失认症———所以他们总共约占 3%。他们还发现，在识别面孔的能力上，面孔识别能力强弱之间没有明显的分野———而且有严重面孔失认症的人在测試中的得分并不总是最差的。结果反而显示了更多的可能性。

The researcher said that many people may be told they dont haveprosopagnosia because very strict standards are used to diagnose6 it. Less strictstandards， he said， could help people understand more about the prosopagnosia，including its milder forms， and how to weaken its negative influences. Theresearchers said different tests should be used for diagnosing prosopagnosia： one formajor forms and another for milder forms.

研究人员说，许多人可能被告知他们并未患上面孔失认症，这是因为诊断时使用了非常严格的标准。他说，不那么严格的标准可以帮助人们更多地了解面孔失认症，包括其较轻的形式，以及如何削弱其负面影响。研究人员说应该使用不同的测试来诊断面孔失认症：一种用于诊断严重的，另一种用于诊断较轻的。

Notes

1. prosopagnosia 面孔失认症

2. inability 无能；无力；不能

3. participant 参加者；参与者

4. major 严重的

5. mild 不严重的；轻微的

6. diagnose 诊断；病症