The development and neural bases of face recognition

TLDR

Evidence from cognitive, evolutionary, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience increasingly points to the special nature of face recognition, and neural systems underlying it mature within the first six months of life. The study seeks to clarify how experience shapes the acquisition and maintenance of face recognition, including the duration of the sensitive period, by reviewing three developmental models and proposing tests for experience‑dependent mechanisms. The authors review three developmental models and propose experimental tests to evaluate experience‑dependent acquisition and maintenance of face recognition. Literature indicates that faces are categorized as a distinct object class within the first six months, and that face recognition likely reflects an experience‑expectant process leading to perceptual and cortical specialization. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract Evidence from fields as diverse as cognitive, evolutionary, and developmental psychology, as well as cognitive neuroscience, has increasingly pointed to the ‘special’ nature of face recognition. A critical examination of the literature supports the view that faces begin to be seen as a separate class of objects within the first 6 months of life. Not surprisingly, the neural systems that underlie face recognition also come on line during this period of time. Less clear, however, are the mechanisms whereby these events occur. It seems likely that face recognition reflects an experience‐expectant process, whereby exposure to faces during a sensitive period of development likely leads to perceptual and cortical specialization. However, it is unknown what the role of experience is in maintaining this ability, and how long this sensitive period lasts. After reviewing three related models that attempt to account for the way the ability to recognize faces develops, a number of suggestions are offered for testing the hypothesis that face recognition depends on experience for acquisition, and for evaluating the role of experience in maintaining this ability. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.