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Sep 5, 2017

Facial Recognition Is Learned, Not Innate, New Study Shows

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, robotics/AI

It has long been accepted that people and other primates are born with the ability to recognize faces; however, a new study at Harvard Medical School has brought that into question.

The study findings suggest that facial recognition is not innate but is learned

The new study published in Nature Neuroscience worked with macaques that had been temporarily prevented from seeing faces while growing up[1]. The researchers discovered that areas of the brain involved in facial recognition form due to experience and are not present in primates who do not see faces while they grow up. This brings into question the long-held idea that we are simply born with the ability to recognize faces.

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