People recognize each other even in a crowd. Just by looking at a person's face, someone could already pick that person up from a crowd. Now scientists show how the brain recognizes human faces.
Recognition starts from infancy. Infants have been shown to already recognize their mothers. Researchers want to find out how the brain process information based on facial recognition. This might be closer as researchers from Carnegie Mellon University are using sophisticated brain imaging tools and other techniques to find out how the brain processes facial recognition.
Through the study, the team hopes to understand the stages by which the brain takes in recognizing faces, as explained by Mark D. Vida. Vida is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences' Department of Psychology and Center for the Neural Basis for Cognition (CNBC). The process begins from the eye when the person first sees another, and from there it takes only a few milliseconds for the brain to process the information.
The research team has studied the brains of four people by using magnetoencephalography (MEG). MEG can measure brain activity in a very fast way, according to the Carnegie Mellon University's site. While the brains were being monitored, the participants viewed faces of 91 people. The images had two expressions, with one being happy while the other is neutral. The participants would indicate when they recognized the person in the image.
Through MEG the researchers have been able to find which part of the brain functions while trying to recognize faces, as Science Daily reports. The researchers have been able to determine which part of the brain is active when processing appearance-based information from identity-based information. The brain processes behavior based on an identity-based information, the study has found out.
Through the study, the research team has been able to look at how the brain processes facial information. Scientists show how the brain recognizes human faces. A study also shows how emotional hangover can affect memory.
