Specific VS. Non-Specific Face Recognition Device

Abstract

Evidence from preference studies suggests that infants can discriminate face and non-face patterns and usually prefer to look longer at face-like patterns. This face preference is present at birth. Recognition memory studies demonstrate that the learning curve for face and non-face patterns differ. On the basis of this and other evidence, some have suggested that faces represent an ecologically privileged class of stimuli and that there is a qualitative difference between the recognition and identification of face and non-face patterns. Others note that the recognition of faces requires many generalized abilities and suggest it is not qualitatively different from the perception of non-face patterns. For example, the very young infant's preference for face-like patterns is reduced when face and non-face patterns are equated for visibility. Categorization of abstracts and faces uses the same mechanism and processes. Increased experience with faces leads to different categorizations for faces than for abstracts, based on different cues.