In a recent interview with GQ, actor Brad Pitt expressed concern that people will perceive him as aloof, inaccessible, or self-absorbed because he has difficulty recognising people.
As a result, he continues to struggle to recognise people he have met in the past or just met a few moments ago.
Pitt has never received an official diagnosis for the condition known as prosopagnosia, but his signs and symptoms strongly suggest that he has face blindness.
The 58-year-old Hollywood sweetheart continued by confessing that he feels embarrassed about his inability to recall the faces of people he has previously met.One in 50 people, according to several studies, is thought to have prosopagnosia.
What causes prosopagnosia?
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) it is a neurological disorder characterised by an inability to recognise faces.
Some patients might only have trouble recognising a familiar face, depending on the severity of the impairment, while others won’t be able to recognise their own face.
Prosopagnosia is thought to be caused by abnormalities, injury, or illness in the right fusiform gyrus, a fold in the brain that would seem to coordinate the neurological systems that control facial perception and memory.
This disorder may develop in patients as a direct result of a traumatic brain injury, stroke, or specific neurodegenerative conditions.