Face perception is the process by which the brain interprets information about other people’s faces, including recognition, emotion, age, gender, and social group. It is a complex process involving many parts of the brain, and is often processed unconsciously. Facial recognition is critical for human interactions and is linked to memory, while emotion recognition is learned and grows with age. People tend to have better face perception with members of their own ethnic group.
Face perception is the process by which the human brain interprets information transmitted by the eyes about other people’s faces. This information is very complex and is often processed on an almost unconscious level. Facial recognition, emotion interpretation, and information regarding social interaction are all part of face perception. Due to the great complexity of face perception, the specifics of how our brains process and use this information are not fully understood. Many parts of the brain are involved in the process and are thought to work together to perform this function.
The most basic aspect of face perception is recognition, which begins at an early age. Even babies as young as two months old show some ability to recognize faces, particularly those of their parents and others with whom they interact on a regular basis. Facial recognition is a critical aspect of nearly all of our human interactions, allowing us to instantly and instinctively recognize most of the people we know. This faculty is also linked to memory, since one may not recognize a face seen only once or twice. It also allows us to recall information about that person once the recognition process has identified them.
Emotion is another key type of information conveyed by face perception. Emotion recognition is learned at a fairly early age, but is not present in very young children. This ability begins to develop at about one year of age. The human face is extremely complex and is capable of conveying a large number of emotions, which we learn to recognize through interaction with others. This ability grows with age, but can be more or less acute from individual to individual.
Some very subtle facial expressions and their meanings may not be perceived by the conscious mind. Some of these expressions are often made unconsciously and instead of affecting the entire face they can only affect very small areas or muscle groups. Many of these types of microexpressions are not consciously perceived by most people, but recognizing them and their meanings is a skill that can be learned.
Information about a person’s age and gender is also transmitted and processed by face perception. This is also a learned skill that is best developed as an individual gets older and more adept at processing this type of information. Very young children cannot tell the age of adults. They can discern that they are older, but may have difficulty estimating actual age with any accuracy, a skill that improves with age and experience.
Social interactions and information regarding social group and ethnicity are another important part of face perception. People tend to have better face perception, especially facial recognition, with members of their own ethnic group. It has been shown that people tend to perceive most faces from other ethnic groups as all the same. This is a conditioned response due to the environment. For example, while many Caucasians tend to think that all Asian people look alike, a Caucasian child raised in Asia would not exhibit this tendency.
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