John has difficulty recognizing familiar faces. What likely area of processing is impaired?

The correct answer is based on the nature of how individuals recognize faces, which is primarily a visual process that involves bottom-up processing. This type of processing refers to the way we construct our perception of a stimulus from individual pieces of sensory information. When someone has difficulty recognizing familiar faces, they are likely struggling with the initial stages of perception, which include the detection and analysis of visual features associated with those faces.

Individuals rely on bottom-up processing to gather specific details, such as the unique features of a face (like the eyes, nose, mouth, and overall shape) and then synthesize those details to form a complete recognition of a familiar face. Impairment in this area would hinder John’s ability to properly perceive and identify the features necessary to recognize someone he knows.

Other processing areas mentioned, like top-down processing, involve the application of prior knowledge or expectations to interpret sensory information, which is not the primary issue in John's case. Visual-spatial processing relates to one's ability to understand and interact with spatial environments rather than specifically focusing on face recognition. Auditory processing pertains to the processing of sounds and is not directly relevant to visual recognition tasks. Thus, the impairment affecting John's ability to recognize faces is most accurately related to bottom-up processing.