Deficits in Face Recognition and Consequent Quality-of-Life Factors in Individuals with Cerebral Visual Impairment

Corinna M Bauer; Claire E Manley; John Ravenscroft; Howard Cabral; Daniel D Dilks; Peter J Bex

doi:10.3390/vision7010009

Deficits in Face Recognition and Consequent Quality-of-Life Factors in Individuals with Cerebral Visual Impairment

Vision (Basel). 2023 Jan 25;7(1):9. doi: 10.3390/vision7010009.

Authors

Corinna M Bauer^{1

2}, Claire E Manley², John Ravenscroft³, Howard Cabral⁴, Daniel D Dilks⁵, Peter J Bex⁶

Affiliations

¹ The Lab of Neuroimaging and Vision Science, Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
³ Scottish Sensory Centre, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
⁵ Dilks Lab, Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
⁶ Translational Vision Lab, Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Abstract

Individuals with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) frequently report challenges with face recognition, and subsequent difficulties with social interactions. However, there is limited empirical evidence supporting poor face recognition in individuals with CVI and the potential impact on social-emotional quality-of-life factors. Moreover, it is unclear whether any difficulties with face recognition represent a broader ventral stream dysfunction. In this web-based study, data from a face recognition task, a glass pattern detection task, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were analyzed from 16 participants with CVI and 25 controls. In addition, participants completed a subset of questions from the CVI Inventory to provide a self-report of potential areas of visual perception that participants found challenging. The results demonstrate a significant impairment in the performance of a face recognition task in participants with CVI compared to controls, which was not observed for the glass pattern task. Specifically, we observed a significant increase in threshold, reduction in the proportion correct, and an increase in response time for the faces, but not for the glass pattern task. Participants with CVI also reported a significant increase in sub-scores of the SDQ for emotional problems and internalizing scores after adjusting for the potential confounding effects of age. Finally, individuals with CVI also reported a greater number of difficulties on items from the CVI Inventory, specifically the five questions and those related to face and object recognition. Together, these results indicate that individuals with CVI may demonstrate significant difficulties with face recognition, which may be linked to quality-of-life factors. This evidence suggests that targeted evaluations of face recognition are warranted in all individuals with CVI, regardless of their age.

Keywords: CVI inventory; Glass pattern; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; cerebral visual impairment (CVI); cortical visual impairment (CVI); face recognition; ventral stream dysfunction; visual perception.

Abstract

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