Face perception

Facial perception is an individual's understanding and interpretation of the face. Here, perception implies the presence of consciousness and hence excludes automated facial recognition systems. Although facial recognition is found in other species,^[1] this article focuses on facial perception in humans.

The perception of facial features is an important part of social cognition.^[2] Information gathered from the face helps people understand each other's identity, what they are thinking and feeling, anticipate their actions, recognize their emotions, build connections, and communicate through body language. Developing facial recognition is a necessary building block for complex societal constructs. Being able to perceive identity, mood, age, sex, and race lets people mold the way we interact with one another, and understand our immediate surroundings.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Though facial perception is mainly considered to stem from visual intake, studies have shown that even people born blind can learn face perception without vision.^[6] Studies have supported the notion of a specialized mechanism for perceiving faces.^[5]

^ Pavelas (19 April 2021). "Facial Recognition is an Easy Task for Animals". Sky Biometry. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
^ Krawczyk, Daniel C. (2018). Reasoning; The Neuroscience of How We Think. Academic Press. pp. 283–311. ISBN 9780128092859.
^ Quinn, Kimberly A.; Macrae, C. Neil (November 2011). "The face and person perception: Insights from social cognition: Categorizing faces". British Journal of Psychology. 102 (4): 849–867. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02030.x. PMID 21988388.
^ Young, Andrew W.; Haan, Edward H. F.; Bauer, Russell M. (March 2008). "Face perception: A very special issue". Journal of Neuropsychology. 2 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1348/174866407x269848. PMID 19334301.
^ ^a ^b Kanwisher, Nancy; Yovel, Galit (2009). "Face Perception". Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences. doi:10.1002/9780470478509.neubb002043. ISBN 9780470478509.
^ Likova, Lora T. (19 April 2021). "Learning face perception without vision: Rebound learning effect and hemispheric differences in congenital vs late-onset blindness". IS&T Int Symp Electron Imaging. 2019 (2019): 2371-23713 (12): 237-1–237-13. doi:10.2352/ISSN.2470-1173.2019.12.HVEI-237. PMC 6800090. PMID 31633079.

[1] Pavelas (19 April 2021). "Facial Recognition is an Easy Task for Animals". Sky Biometry. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.

[2] Krawczyk, Daniel C. (2018). Reasoning; The Neuroscience of How We Think. Academic Press. pp. 283–311. ISBN 9780128092859.

[:1-3] Quinn, Kimberly A.; Macrae, C. Neil (November 2011). "The face and person perception: Insights from social cognition: Categorizing faces". British Journal of Psychology. 102 (4): 849–867. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02030.x. PMID 21988388.

[:22-4] Young, Andrew W.; Haan, Edward H. F.; Bauer, Russell M. (March 2008). "Face perception: A very special issue". Journal of Neuropsychology. 2 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1348/174866407x269848. PMID 19334301.

[:42-5] Kanwisher, Nancy; Yovel, Galit (2009). "Face Perception". Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences. doi:10.1002/9780470478509.neubb002043. ISBN 9780470478509.

[6] Likova, Lora T. (19 April 2021). "Learning face perception without vision: Rebound learning effect and hemispheric differences in congenital vs late-onset blindness". IS&T Int Symp Electron Imaging. 2019 (2019): 2371-23713 (12): 237-1–237-13. doi:10.2352/ISSN.2470-1173.2019.12.HVEI-237. PMC 6800090. PMID 31633079.

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