Intact recognition of facial expression, gender, and age in patients with impaired recognition of face identity.

We conducted a series of experiments to assess the ability to recognize the meaning of facial expressions, gender, and age in four patients with severe impairments of the recognition of facial identity. In three patients the recognition of face identity could be dissociated from that of facial expression, age, and gender. In one, all forms of face recognition were impaired. Thus, a given lesion may preclude one type of recognition but not another. We conclude that (1) the cognitive demands posed by different forms of recognition are met at different processing levels, and (2) different levels depend on different neural substrates.