In recent years cognitive scientists have identified “domains” within the brain that are geared toward processing certain kinds of information. One of the most obvious instances of a cognitive specialization where humans can access gestalt knowledge is the uncanny ability we have to recognize faces. Here is a bizarre case from Survival of the Prettiest (page 165):
For the past ten years I have been conducting an intensive case study of a man in his mid-forties who suffers from the rare syndrom called prosopagnosia. Prosopagnosics are unable to recongize people by face, including their children or their own faces in a mirror. This man’s wife has to wear a special ornament-a ribbon of a certain color or a distinctive hairclip-when they attend public events so that he will be able to find her. As I drove him home once, I saw two childre in his driveway. I asked him if they were his children and he replied, “Must be, they are in my driveway.”
Posted by razib at 05:56 PM