VOA慢速英语--“脸盲”的人无法识别人脸

 'Face Blind' People Cannot Remember Faces

From VOA Learning¹ English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Some people are great at remembering faces. Once they meet you, they never forget how you look. They might say things like, "I never forget a face." or "I'm really good with faces."

For some people, remembering a face can be difficult. You may have to meet them several times before they can recognize you.

For others, remembering a face is simply impossible. Such people have a condition of the brain called “face blindness.” Its actual name is developmental prosopagnosia, or DP for short.

Experts say DP can differ greatly from patient to patient. In less severe cases, people are unable to describe the face of someone they have just met. In severe cases, people cannot even recognize their own children in a group photograph.

Many people who have DP show no clear signs.

Take, for example, Dacia Reid.

If you met her, you probably would not know that she suffered brain damage as a child. There would be no sign of it until you meet her a second time. She would not remember how you looked.

Reid has mostly recovered from her injuries. But now, she suffers from face blindness.

Dartmouth College study

Face blindness was once thought to be rare. But recent studies have shown that it might be more common than experts had thought.

The latest study on face blindness come from the Prosopagnosia Research Centers at Dartmouth College in the United States. The National Science Foundation² provided³ financing⁴ for that research.

Bradley Duchaine is a professor of psychological⁵ and brain sciences at Dartmouth College. He worked closely⁶ on this study with Guo Jiahui, also of Dartmouth.

Duchaine says that the research showed "neural⁷ abnormalities in many people with DP are more widespread than previous studies have suggested."

The researchers studied how people recognize and process faces. They compared 22 patients with DP to 25 other people. The researchers showed all the subjects videos of faces, bodies, physical objects and other images.

Then they used functional⁸ magnetic⁹ resonance¹⁰ imaging, or fMRI, to measure activity in each person’s brain. An fMRI can identify chemical and other changes resulting from blood flow.

One test involved famous faces. The researchers wanted to find out if the subjects could recognize pictures of famous people.

The woman we spoke¹¹ about earlier, Dacia Reid, took part in the study. When shown famous faces, she drew a blank with actor George Clooney.

"Eh! I don't know."

... and former President George Bush.

"Ah, I don't know."

However, she could identify actor John Travolta because of one specific feature.

"Um, John Travolta. Yeah, baby! That chin. You can't deny the chin."

Duchaine says that studying face blindness may help researchers understand how the brain works¹².

"My main interest is trying to understand the organization of the normal brain, and we use these brains that have suffered brain damage to try to make inferences¹⁴ about the way the normal brain operates."

For example, Duchanie says his team wanted to see if the brain recognized people and things in the same way. So, the researchers tested how well people with face blindness could recognize common objects, such as cars.

They found that people with DP may not have been able to remember faces, but they could recognize objects, scenes and bodies.

“And so imagine that we find somebody who suffered brain damage. And they can’t recognize faces any longer, but they still recognize cars in a parking lot and they can recognize scenes and things like that.”

He says that suggests that faces are processed differently in the brain.

Duchaine says this study on face blindness will not directly lead to any treatments. However, he said it could lead to a deeper understanding of how we all remember the world around us.

“We hope that by really developing and understanding face processing itself -- that will provide us with a model for understanding how other parts of the brain work.”

And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report. I'm Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

photograph – n. a picture made by a camera

neural – adj. of, relating to, or affecting a nerve¹⁵ or the nervous system

abnormality – n. something that is not usual, expected, or normal

previous – adj. going before in time or order

functional MRI – n. magnetic resonance imaging used to detect¹⁶ physical changes (as of blood flow) in the brain resulting from increased neuronal activity

draw a blank – expression to fail to gain a desired object (such as information sought) also : to be unable to think of something

inference¹³ – n. the act or process of reaching a conclusion about something from known facts or evidence

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

3 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

4 financing   

n.筹措资金

参考例句：

• The main source of our outside financing is bank loan. 我们向外筹措资金的主要渠道是银行贷款。
• They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing. 他们与他们服务的政府互利共存。

5 psychological   

adj.心理的，精神上的

参考例句：

• Work also provides psychological well-being.工作还能使人身心健康。
• The psychological advantage of direct control is impressive.直接控制所收到的心理效果很大。

6 closely   

adv.紧密地；严密地，密切地

参考例句：

• We shall follow closely the development of the situation.我们将密切注意形势的发展。
• The two companies are closely tied up with each other.这两家公司之间有密切联系。

7 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

8 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

9 magnetic   

adj.磁的，有磁性的；有吸引力的，有魅力的

参考例句：

• If we charge it with electricity,it will become magnetic.如果充上电，它就会带有磁性。
• I have a magnetic disc.我有一张磁盘。

10 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

13 inference   

n.推断结果，结论，推论，推理，推断

参考例句：

• The inference I've drawn from his lateness is he overslept.从他来晚我得出的结论是他睡过头了。
• You seemed to know about this book,and by inference I thought you had read it.你好像了解这本书，因此我推断你已读过它了。

14 inferences   

推论( inference的名词复数 )； 推理； 推断结果； 结论

参考例句：

• The inferences drawn from data have led to some major changes in our policy. 根据资料做出的推论使得我们的方针发生了一些重大变化。
• A teacher should be good at drawing inferences about other cases from one instance. 老师要善于举一反三。

15 nerve   

n.神经；勇气，胆量，沉着，果断

参考例句：

• Did he have the nerve to say that?他竟有脸说这话吗？
• He never got up enough nerve to meet me.他从没有足够的胆量来见我。

16 detect   

vt.察觉，发现；探测

参考例句：

• I can detect signs of improvement in your thinking.我可以察觉出你思考问题方面的进步。
• Their instruments can detect the slightest vibration.他们的仪器能探测出极微弱的震动。