Doctors from Dartmouth College have discovered that COVID-19 can cause face blindness (prosopagnosia) and navigation problems. The results of the research work of scientists have been published. magazine cortex
It has long been known that COVID-19 can cause a range of neurological problems such as loss of smell and taste, as well as attention, memory and speech disorders. However, the above effects have not been discovered by scientists before.
“We had a patient who complained of problems with face perception and navigation. The case was of interest to us, as these two pathologies go hand in hand after brain injury or developmental disorders. But he had neither one nor the other, only a prolonged coronavirus, ”said the scientists.
The research team ran a series of tests on the woman. For example, he was presented with 48 photos of celebrities. While patients can only correctly identify 29%, most people can identify 84% correctly.
“Tests showed that the woman could not only remember the name or biographical information of someone she knew, but also new people. However, his cognitive abilities were otherwise normal. His problems with face processing and navigation are most likely related to a deficiency in the visual system,” the doctors explained.
To understand the prevalence of the problems, the researchers collected personally-reported mental health data from 54 people with long-term COVID-19 patients and 32 people who had fully recovered.
“Most of the respondents reported a decline in cognitive abilities. Also, deterioration was significant in people with long-term coronavirus. One of the most common problems in this group was prosopagnosia. “In the future, we will conduct a series of studies to identify the causes of such violations.”