A study conducted by Dartmouth and published in The Lancet’s “Clinical Pictures” section delves into a rare condition known as prosopometamorphopsia (PMO). The research represents the first to create detailed and realistic visual depictions of the facial distortions experienced by a PMO patient.
The subject of the study, a 58-year-old man named Victor Sharrah, experiences distorted facial features that he describes as “demonic” when viewing faces in person. However, he perceives faces without any distortions when they are viewed on a screen or paper. Sharrah’s case is an unusual one because distortions are only present in certain settings, which presents a unique opportunity to accurately depict his specific distortions.
The researchers collected real-time feedback from Sharrah on the differences between the face on the screen and the real face, adjusting the photograph with computer software to replicate the distortions perceived by Sharrah.
Anto^nio Vitor Reis Goncalves Mello, the lead author of the case study and a doctoral student in psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth, highlighted the limited understanding of PMO. He pointed out that individuals with PMO often receive misdiagnoses of schizophrenia or similar conditions, leading to inappropriate treatments such as anti-psychotic medications or institutionalization.
The researchers found that individuals can develop PMO after experiencing a brain injury, tumor, infection, or seizures like those seen in epilepsy. The duration of PMO can vary significantly, ranging from days to weeks or even years.
Senior author Brad Duchaine, a professor of psychological and brain sciences and principal investigator of the Social Perception Lab at Dartmouth, says that many people with PMO choose not to disclose their struggles with face perception due to concerns that others may mistakenly perceive the distortions as a psychiatric disorder. He emphasizes the importance of increasing public awareness of PMO through their publication.
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