Babies Possess Ability to Perceive Faces 'Years before Previously Thought

Image Credit:www.babble.com

Human’s Capability in Perceiving Faces – Early in Life

Researchers from the University of Louvain in France have discovered that human’s capability in perceiving faces tends to develop quite early in life than what was believed by scientists. Bruno Rossion while talking about the interest of the team in identifying the time on the occurrence of face recognition stated that `just as language is impaired following damage to the brain’s left hemisphere, damage to the right hemisphere can impair the ability to distinguish faces and it is critical to understand how it develops’,

 Earlier, scientist assumed that the capability of perceiving faces that set us apart from non-human primates develops as the children begin to learn to read, though study from Rossion and his colleagues published in the journal eLife indicate that this ability is already `highly evolved’ in infants as young as four months old. Rossion states that `parents and guardians are aware of how rapidly the brains of babies tend to develop, but no evidence has been gathered due to the limitations of the methods used.

Difference Pronounced Between Right & Left Hemisphere

The brain activity of 15 babies, by means of caps fitted with electrodes was observed by the team and during the experiments; the babies were shown a quick sequence of picturescomprising of 48 images combined with 200 images of animals, plants and man-made objectswhile they rested on their mother’s laps.

Each image was revealed for about 166 milliseconds which was the same rate that was used for adult studies and the images of faces were different in colour, perspective, lighting and background. Related to other images, the image of the face was shown to match up with a certain spike in motivation of the right hemisphere of the brain.

The difference was quite pronounced between the right and the left hemisphere than in the similar study of adults, confusing earlier assumptions. The researchers recognized that when the picture was seen by the babies, there seemed to be a consistent rise in activity in the right hemisphere of their brains.

Face Perfect – Ability in Visually Classifying Objects

The authors debate that the face is a perfect way in understanding how humans tend to develop the ability in visually classifying objects. Consequently the team intends using the same method in examining when the ability in distinguish individuals appears and how it could grow with age. The success of the research method in babies indicates that it could be used in all ages in developing our understanding on how we tend to develop the capability of perceiving complex images.

Humans tend to outperform computer algorithms in grouping natural visual images and the face is a common and socially important stimulus in the development of humans that it is appropriate in studying how we develop the ability to visually classify objects.

An important element of face perception is our skill in telling individuals apart and the authors tend to use the same method in defining when it arises and develops with age. Earlier studies have conveyed that babies tend to have preference for face-like images instead of non-face like images from birth and at a few month of age they are more likely to pay attention to faces rather than pointless configurations.