Are you someone who never forgets a face?
You may be born with that ability, according to new research by Dartmouth University researchers.
The study, published in the journal Brain, found some people may not recognize faces as well as others because of unique features in their brains.
The study, led by researcher Bradley Duchaine, examined individuals who have prosopagnosia -- a disorder makes them unable recognize faces. He found the culprit may be a breakdown in a brain pathway used to process faces.
Researchers monitored the brain activity of 12 people born with the disorder as they looked at photos of faces of well-known celebrities and strangers.
When they compared the study participants’ brain activity to people without prosopagnosia they found people who don’t recognize faces experience a “breakdown” in the brain’s ability to signal such information to regions that process it.