Prosopagnosia is currently viewed within the constraints of two
competing theories of face recognition, one highlighting the analysis of
features, the other focusing on configural processing of the whole face.
This study investigated the role of feature analysis versus whole
face configural processing in the recognition of facial expression. A
prosopagnosic patient, SC made expression decisions from whole and
incomplete (eyes-only and mouth-only) faces where features had been
obscured. SC was impaired at recognizing some (e.g., anger, sadness, and
fear), but not all (e.g., happiness) emotional expressions from the whole
face. Analyses of his performance on incomplete faces indicated that his
recognition of some expressions actually improved relative to his
performance on the whole face condition. We argue that in SC interference
from damaged configural processes seem to override an intact ability to
utilize part-based or local feature cues. (JINS, 2006,
12, 884–895.)