Famous Face Test Used in US Dementia Research

Research carried out at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago, has suggested that middle aged individuals who fail to recognise or name famous faces, may suffer from a type of early onset dementia.

 

The study was carried out on 57 participants; 30 of whom had already been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia, with the remaining participants being described as ‘healthy’. Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is primarily known for disrupting the language skills and articulation of sufferers, initially striking people aged between 40 and 65.

 

Participants in the study were asked to look at a series of 20 black and white images of well known, cultural icons and try to provide their full name or failing that, part of their name or a short description about the person in the photograph. Participants were scored on these areas as well as receiving an MRI scan, to try and identify brain irregularities linked to primary progressive aphasia.  Famous people included in the study included Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein and Queen Elizabeth II.

 

Overall, those who were diagnosed with PPA performed poorer than those who were deemed ‘healthy’; with the PPA group only being able to name less than half (46%)  of the famous people and those without dementia scoring 93% in naming the celebrities. Those who struggled with naming the famous faces were more likely to have a loss of brain tissue in the left temporal lobe of their brain, while those with difficulties in face recognition had suffered tissue loss on both the right and left hand sides of the brain.

 

The need for follow up research with regards to these tests has been identified by a number of other academics, who conclude that although the research is intriguing a lot more studies need to be carried out to find out how useful it is in a dementia setting.