In severe cases an examining physician will be able to hold up a photograph of him or herself and,
在严重的情况下,检查的医生会拿着一张自己的照片,
seated in front of the patient with facial agnosia, ask if they recognize this person—to no avail.
坐在面孔失认症患者的前面,询问他们是否认识这个人,但是完全不起作用。
What's especially interesting to researchers about this condition is its specificity.
使研究者觉得极为有趣的是这种病症的独特性。
Visual ability itself is not damaged and the person with facial agnosia can still anything else—except a face.
在视觉功能良好的情况下面孔失认症患者除了脸其他什么都仍能识别。
They can still describe faces very accurately, but only in the way one describes an object: "He needs a shave. He has droopy eyes. He has a small scar."
他们还能十分准确的描述面部特征,但是也仅限于描述具体对象:他胡子太多了,他眼袋太大,他脸上有个小疤等等。
But never Wait a minute—this is my high school yearbook picture.
但是患者从不会有这样一刻:等等,这不是我高中时的年刊照片吗。
Facial agnosia strongly suggests the existence of a mechanism in the brain devoted specifically to recognizing individuals we've seen before,
面孔失认症强有力的证明了大脑中有这样的特殊机制存在,它会专门致力于去辨别我们以前所见过的人,
a mechanism thought to exist in many other animals and even some insects.
而其他动物甚至昆虫也可能拥有这种特殊机制。