On the species-specificity of face recognition in human adults
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: Does the human ability to recognize unfamiliar faces extend beyond human faces to those of other species? In two experiments, face recognition by humans for human, macaque monkey, and sheep faces was investigated with a forced-choice matching task. The experimental variables of orientation (upright or inverted) and familiarisation time were explored. In the first experiment, with 750 ms familiarisation time, we showed an advantage for the upright face with a marked inversion effect for both human and monkey faces. Long-term exposure to unfamiliar face types (i.e., monkeys) may not therefore be a critical determinant of the inversion effect for unfamiliar faces. Human and monkey faces may make use of a common representational prototype which is sensitive to orientation. In a second study, with just 50 ms familiarisation time, an inversion effect was found only for human faces, suggesting that processing of human faces is engaged more efficiently than that for faces of monkeys. Differences between the tasks, and their implications for understanding human face recognition are discussed.
Source: HAL
Authors: Dufour, Valerie, Coleman, Michael, P., Campbell, Ruth, Petit, Odile, Pascalis, Olivier
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2264701997