Frame of Mind Neuroscience

Study gives a jolt to brain researchers seeking to understand face blindness

By Laura Sanders

At the push of a button, Dr. Josef Parvizi’s face melted. When Parvizi turned on the juice to two electrodes in his patient’s brain, “you just turned into somebody else,” the patient told the doctor from the hospital bed. “Your face metamorphosed. Your nose got saggy and went to the left. You almost looked like somebody I’ve seen before, but somebody different. That was a trip.”

Parvizi’s face wasn’t the only one that melted; a technician in the room also had the honor. “The bottom of her face sort of metamorphosized up, kind of stretched up to give her a different look,” the patient said of the woman’s face.

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