Dynamic Aspects of Face Processing in Humans

Abstract

In this chapter, we will focus on the role of motion in identity and expression recognition in human, and its developmental and neurophysiological aspects. Based on results from literature, we make it clear that there is some form of characteristic facial information that is only available over time, and that it plays an important role in the recognition of identity, expression, speech, and gender; and that the addition of dynamic information improves the recognizability of expressions and identity, and can compensate for the loss of static information. Moreover, at least several different types of motion seem to exist, they play different roles, and a simple rigid/nonrigid dichotomy is neither sufficient nor appropriate to describe these motions. Additional research is necessary to determine what the dynamic features for face processing are.