Facial recognition in "pseudoneurological" patients.

A test of facial recognition was given to 44 patients whose symptoms raised a question of differential diagnosis between brain disease and functional psychiatric disorder. These "pseudoneurological" patients presented symptoms (e.g., memory impairment, headache, sensory disturbances) that were sufficiently suggestive of CNS disease to warrant thorough neurological evaluation. In each case, such evaluation disclosed no evidence of brain disease and the final diagnosis was some type of functional psychiatric disorder. Facial recognition performances of these patients were indistinguishable from those of medical patients without history or evidence of brain disease. The findings support the clinical application of this type of task in cases presenting problems of differential diagnosis.