This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Updated facial recognition test shows promise in detecting primary progressive aphasia
Differential deficits in the ability to name and recognize famous faces are clinically relevant to the identification of young-onset dementia in patients aged 40 to 65 years, according to recent data.
Researchers also analyzed MRI scans of the brains of individuals tested to identify the distinct anatomical underpinnings of facial recognition vs. facial naming.
“[These tests] differentiate between recognizing a face and actually naming it, which can help identify the specific type of cognitive impairment a person has,” researcher Tamar Gefen, a doctoral candidate in neuropsychology at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a press release.
Researchers compared results from two groups (mean age, 62 years) with no significant differences in sex, age or education. The first group included 30 individuals diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), based on progressive language impairment. The control group included 27 people without dementia.
Twenty images of famous faces — including John F. Kennedy, Lucille Ball, Princess Diana, Martin Luther King Jr. and Elvis Presley — were first tested on 30 cognitively healthy individuals (mean age, 45 years) to confirm suitability. These individuals recognized and named the subjects with 90% accuracy.
On average, controls recognized 96.9% of the faces and named 93.4%, while the PPA group scored 78.5% on facial recognition and 46.4% on naming.
“The famous faces for this study were specifically chosen for their relevance to individuals under age 65, so that the test may be useful for diagnosing dementia in younger individuals,” researcher Emily Rogalski, PhD, assistant research professor at Northwestern’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center, said in the release.
MRI results for the PPA group showed that the degree of atrophy in the left anterior temporal lobe was associated with face-naming impairment. Bilateral anterior temporal lobe atrophy was associated with face-recognition impairment.
These patterns are “consistent with previous observations in patients with semantic dementia,” the researchers concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.