What Do Theories of Face Perception Tell Us About Object Perception in General?
What do theories of face perception tell us about object perception in general?
Introduction
Face perception is the process by which the brain and mind understand and interpret the human face. The cognitive and neural processes in face recognition differ greatly from those observed for object recognition. Both objects and faces are generally considered to be “viewpoint-dependent” meaning that performance in recognition is better when viewed from a familiar viewpoint. However when considering Biederman’s (1987) recognition-by-components theory he found that objects can be recognised equally as easily from all viewpoints. This is due to his belief that objects are recognised from the individual basic shapes that make the whole object; these are called “geons”. Recognition of an object occurs when the stored representation of an object best fits the geon based information. However according to Bruce and Young (1986) face recognition starts with the visual encoding of the features of a face, meaning that one is able to identify a face viewed from any angle through its features as identified in their model for face recognition. Whilst cognitive and behavioural processes are involved for face and object recognition, and said processes vary greatly between the two, there are also important neural processes involved in face and object recognition. Particularly the role of the Fusiform face area for face recognition and the role of the inferotemporal cortex for object recognition. Other psychologists explain the different recognition processes between face and object recognition through the theory of expertise, whereby face recognition does not have face specific processing but is due to individuals having a greater expertise at individuating faces. Diamond and Carey’s (1986) study aims to support the expertise hypothesis by showing that experts process their objects of expertise in the same way as faces, therefore supporting their hypothesis that it is not due to
Introduction
Face perception is the process by which the brain and mind understand and interpret the human face. The cognitive and neural processes in face recognition differ greatly from those observed for object recognition. Both objects and faces are generally considered to be “viewpoint-dependent” meaning that performance in recognition is better when viewed from a familiar viewpoint. However when considering Biederman’s (1987) recognition-by-components theory he found that objects can be recognised equally as easily from all viewpoints. This is due to his belief that objects are recognised from the individual basic shapes that make the whole object; these are called “geons”. Recognition of an object occurs when the stored representation of an object best fits the geon based information. However according to Bruce and Young (1986) face recognition starts with the visual encoding of the features of a face, meaning that one is able to identify a face viewed from any angle through its features as identified in their model for face recognition. Whilst cognitive and behavioural processes are involved for face and object recognition, and said processes vary greatly between the two, there are also important neural processes involved in face and object recognition. Particularly the role of the Fusiform face area for face recognition and the role of the inferotemporal cortex for object recognition. Other psychologists explain the different recognition processes between face and object recognition through the theory of expertise, whereby face recognition does not have face specific processing but is due to individuals having a greater expertise at individuating faces. Diamond and Carey’s (1986) study aims to support the expertise hypothesis by showing that experts process their objects of expertise in the same way as faces, therefore supporting their hypothesis that it is not due to
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