It May Not Be Their Memory That Prevents Alzheimer's Patients From Remembering Who You Are
Probably one of the very hardest parts of a loved one being affected by Alzheimer's is his ability to no longer recognize you. That's because the disease not only impairs memory but it also interferes with visual perception, according to newswise.com. Face perception plays a fundamental role in human communication, which is why humans have evolved into experts at quickly detecting and identifying faces, the website reports in a story about a new study. This faculty is thought to depend on the ability to perceive a face as a whole. Also known as “holistic perception,” this ability is in contrast to the local and detailed analysis required to perceive individual facial features, such as the eyes, nose or mouth. The study has demonstrated that the holistic ability to perceive faces is impaired by Alzheimer’s disease. For the study, the research team recruited people with Alzheimer’s along with healthy seniors to study their ability to perceive faces and ca...