Most of us are able to identify people we've met before and to pick out friends from among a group of strangers simply by scanning their faces. What cognitive processes allow us to do this? What goes on in the brain when we struggle to match a name to a face? And why are some people unable to remember the faces of individuals at all? This program explores facial perception and prosopagnosia, a condition in which the ability to recognize what should be familiar faces is impaired. With commentary from renown prosopagnosia researcher Dr. Vicki Bruce, the video covers facial recognition, reading faces, facial blindness, and the Bruce-Young model of face perception.

Encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on August 24, 2013. Learn360 is distributed by Infobase for Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Cambridge Educational, Meridian Education, and Shopware.

Feats & Limitations of Face Recognition (2:35) -- Bruce-Young Model of Face Recognition: Structural Encoding (1:35) -- Bruce-Young Model of Face Recognition: Identifying Familiar Faces (1:34) -- Bruce-Young Model of Face Recognition: Name Generation (1:30) -- Reading Faces for Information (1:28) -- Evidence of Double Dissociation in Face Recognition (2:35) -- Role of Cognitive System (0:38) -- Bruce-Young Model's Strengths (1:47) -- Bruce-Young Model's Limitations (1:13) -- Face Blindness (3:04) -- Emotional Responses in Facial Recognition (1:30) -- Capgras Delusion (2:19) -- Public Understanding of Face Blindness (1:49) -- Credits: Face Recognition (0:31).