Disconnection between parietal and temporal areas without simultanagnosia: a case study of prosopagnosia

Abstract

This study presents a neuropsychological evaluation of a unique case of prosopagnosia (patient EP) with atypical lesion patterns, characterized by intact face-selective nodes but significant damage to the Vertical Occipital Fasciculus (VOF). Given the presumed interruption of ventral-parietal connectivity, we focused on assessing the potential presence of simultanagnosia and its potential relationship to his face recognition deficits. Our neuropsychological battery included tests of global and local processing, scene perception, and face recognition. Results revealed intact global processing abilities and no evidence of simultanagnosia, despite the patient’s prosopagnosia. These findings suggest that EP’s face recognition impairment is likely attributable to disrupted connectivity within the face processing network rather than a general deficit in global/holistic processing. This case highlights the importance of comprehensive neuropsychological assessments in atypical presentations of prosopagnosia and contributes to our understanding of the complex relationship between white matter integrity and face recognition abilities.