Sorry Who Are You? Reading Answers

Oct 13, 2025

Sorry Who Are You? Reading Answers contains 13 questions and belongs to the assessment system of the IELTS General Reading test. Sorry Who Are You? Reading Answers must be answered within 20 minutes. In this IELTS reading section, question types include writing one word only, and does the following statement agree with the information given in the passage. Also, Sorry Who Are You? Reading Answers offers a comprehensive overview of Prosopagnosia, or face blindness, which affects the ability to recognize faces—even those of friends or family. To practice similar reading tests, candidates can refer to the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

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Topic:

Prosopagnosia is a medical condition that stops people from recognizing faces. But how common is it and why does it happen?

It was Jacob Hodes’ first day at college. He can still recall enjoying the afternoon being shown around campus by a second-year student named Daniel Byrne, who happened to live in the same dorm. Jacob then spent the rest of the year ignoring him. “I never saw him again,” he says. “Well, I’m sure I walked past him plenty of times, but I just didn’t see him.” This behavior wasn’t intentional. Jacob just couldn’t recollect what his fellow student looked like. He had the same trouble all his life. Friends and relatives would greet him, and he would have no idea who they were.

It wasn’t until five years ago that it all made sense. That was when Jacob was diagnosed with prosopagnosia, a condition that means he is unable to recognize faces. According to researchers, he is far from alone. In fact, the condition is not that uncommon, but until a few years ago, only a few dozen cases had ever been described, and most had been caused by brain injury. Recently, though, researchers identified a second form of face blindness—developmental prosopagnosia, which is either present from birth or develops very early in life.

In May, a team from Harvard University in the US and University College London (UCL) announced the results of a web survey of 1,600 people, suggesting that up to 2 percent of people show some degree of face blindness. Then in August, Martina Gruter and colleagues at the Institute for Human Genetics in Münster, Germany, similarly reported that 2.5 percent of 700 secondary school pupils they had tested had trouble recognizing faces. The results of the survey took everyone by surprise.

It seems that if you have never known what it is like to recognize a face, you don’t necessarily know that you are supposed to be able to. “Prosopagnosics almost always know that they have trouble recognizing people, but they often don’t realize that other people have better recognition skills than they do,” says Brad Duchaine, a researcher at UCL. Despite these issues, the majority of developmental prosopagnosics possess strategies that allow them to get around their difficulty. For instance, they recognize hair, clothing, or a person’s way of speaking.

So, unless they see a familiar person out of context, with a new hairstyle or in different clothes, they can recognize people just fine. Even so, the discovery of developmental prosopagnosia has attracted attention from neuroscientists keen to discover what is different about the brain of face-blind people. This difference, they believe, could help solve the problem of how the brain deals with information in general—not just visual data. In other words, it may show whether the brain has specialized parts for specific tasks or is more of a general-purpose information processor.

One issue, however, that will present challenges for researchers is that no two prosopagnosics are the same. Some have problems only with faces, while others have trouble with ordinary everyday objects; and, so it turns out, animals, which would normally be familiar as well. Some prosopagnosics can train themselves to recognize specific faces; others can’t even recognize their own in a mirror. When some have been tested, they could identify the emotions expressed on another’s face, even though the face itself seemed unfamiliar, while for other subjects, this was an impossibility. Some cannot recognize the faces of old friends or fellow students but have no trouble telling whether a particular face from such groups would appear attractive to most people. Because of this diversity, working out the cause of prosopagnosia will not be easy.

In Martina Gruter’s study, the prosopagnosics who agreed to have their parents and relatives tested reported at least one with the condition. Having looked at 38 cases in seven families, the German team believe they have good evidence that a single gene could be responsible. Duchaine also has some evidence that face blindness could be inherited and thinks other factors might be more significant. He refers to studies of babies born with a condition that means one eye is not clear, and when it’s the left one, being unable to see through this eye during the first two months of life is a major risk factor for face blindness. Whatever the cause, what most prosopagnosics want to know is whether they can do anything to improve their recognition skills.

Joseph Degutis, a graduate student at the University of California, recently reported successfully training a severe prosopagnosic to recognize faces during tests carried out in the laboratory. The subject also reported that recognizing faces in everyday life became easier due to the training. Duchaine now plans to attempt to train sufferers to recognize the five people they most need to know—maybe their immediate family, for example, and essential colleagues.

However, Martina Gruter’s husband, who also has the condition, is not convinced it will work. “I don’t know how you can have more training than you have already had,” he says. “Humans already spend their lives looking at faces.” He also points out that genetics is a possibility during tests and provides an example: one person with prosopagnosia, while doing the face-recognition test, she memorized where the distinctive cheeks were and upper lip. She saw them perform well in the test and not do so well in real life.

Questions 1–7

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

Write:

TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE – if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this

1.Before attending college, Jacob was capable of recognizing people he knew well.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: "He had the same trouble all his life. Friends and relatives would greet him, and he would have no idea who they were."

Keywords: trouble all his life, friends and relatives

Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, line 6

Explanation: The statement is false because Jacob had always struggled with recognizing people, even before college.

2.Researchers believe that prosopagnosia may be a growing problem.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: The passage discusses increased awareness and diagnosis but does not state whether the condition is becoming more common.

3.It is harder to identify developmental prosopagnosia in babies than in young children.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: No comparison is made between identifying the condition in babies versus young children.

4.A German study seems to support the Harvard and UCL research findings.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: "Martina Gruter...similarly reported that 2.5 percent...had trouble recognizing faces."

Keywords: similarly reported

Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, line 4

Explanation: Both studies found around 2% prevalence, supporting each other's findings.

5.In general, prosopagnosics are aware that other people can recognize faces more easily than they can.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: "They often don’t realize that other people have better recognition skills than they do.”

Keywords: don’t realize, better recognition

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, line 3

Explanation: Most prosopagnosics are unaware that their ability is below average.

6.In most cases, prosopagnosics have developed ways to deal with their problem.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: "The majority of developmental prosopagnosics possess strategies..."

Keywords: possess strategies

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, line 5

Explanation: Most sufferers use methods like recognizing hair or voice to manage the issue.

7.The study of prosopagnosia may help neuroscientists to treat different kinds of brain injury.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: "...could help solve the problem of how the brain deals with information...not just visual data."

Keywords: brain deals with information

Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, line 5

Explanation: The passage says it may help understand brain processing but doesn't suggest it will help treat brain injuries.

Questions 8–13

Choose ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

The challenges for prosopagnosia researchers

DIFFERENCES IN PROSOPAGNOSIA

As well as being unable to recognize facial features, prosopagnosics may also have problems recognizing

commonly seen 8. __________ and objects

Answer: animals

Supporting statement: "Some have problems only with faces, while others have trouble with ordinary everyday objects; and, so it turns out, animals..."

Keywords: animals, objects

Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, line 2

Explanation: The sentence indicates that prosopagnosics may struggle to recognize animals, showing that their difficulty is not limited to human faces.

the 9. __________ on someone else face.

Answer: emotions

Supporting statement: "...they could identify the emotions expressed on another’s face, even though the face itself seemed unfamiliar..."

Keywords: identify, emotions

Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, line 5

Explanation: The passage discusses how some prosopagnosics can still recognize emotions despite not recognizing faces, implying difficulty for others.

Some prosopagnosics can recognize that people are regarded as attractive by others.

CAUSES OF PROSOPAGNOSIA

PROSOPAGNOSIA MAY BE CAUSED BY

just one 10. __________, according to Martina Gruter

Answer: gene

Supporting statement: "...the German team believe they have good evidence that a single gene could be responsible."

Keywords: single gene

Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, line 4

Explanation: Martina Gruter’s study supports the theory that a genetic factor, possibly one gene, may cause prosopagnosia.

a defect in the 11. __________ eye according to Brad Duchaine

Answer: left

Supporting statement: "...when it’s the left one, being unable to see through this eye during the first two months of life is a major risk factor for face blindness."

Keywords: left eye, risk factor

Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, line 7

Explanation: Duchaine’s research suggests that impaired vision in the left eye during infancy could contribute to prosopagnosia.

TREATMENT FOR PROSOPAGNOSIA

– ACCORDING TO MARTINA GRUTER

Eye according to Brad Duchaine
Joseph Degutis patent proved he had been successfully trained to recognize faces inside
the 12. __________ and in the outside world.

Answer: laboratory

Supporting statement: "...reported successfully training a severe prosopagnosic to recognize faces during tests carried out in the laboratory."

Keywords: training, laboratory

Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, line 2

Explanation: Degutis trained a subject to recognize faces during lab tests and the subject also experienced improvement in real-life settings.

Duchaine’s training may allow prosopagnosics to recognize faces belonging to family and workmates.
Thomas Gruter doubts that training will work.
Researchers find that 13. __________ by some current subjects can distort the research results.

Answer: strategies

Supporting statement: "...she memorized where the distinctive cheeks were and upper lip... perform well in the test and not do so well in real life."

Keywords: memorized, perform well

Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, line 7

Explanation: The use of deliberate memorization strategies during testing can result in misleading outcomes for researchers.

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