Which disorder is associated with the inability to perceive and recognize faces?

The disorder associated with the inability to perceive and recognize faces is prosopagnosia. This condition, also known as face blindness, specifically affects an individual's ability to recognize familiar faces, even those of close family members or friends. Individuals with prosopagnosia may rely on other cues, such as voice or hairstyle, to identify people. This condition is often linked to damage or dysfunction in the fusiform gyrus, a region of the brain that is critical for facial recognition.

The other options present different neurological or developmental issues. Pure word deafness involves difficulty in understanding spoken language without affecting the ability to hear, while microcephaly is a condition characterized by a smaller than average head and associated developmental challenges. Hemineglect syndrome involves a lack of awareness or neglect of one side of space, typically after a stroke or brain injury, rather than a specific deficit in recognizing faces. Each of these conditions has distinct features and does not specifically relate to facial recognition like prosopagnosia does.