HOW DOES THE BRAIN RECOGNIZE A FACE?

Humans

can recognize a face faster than anything else. A specific region of the brain is responsible for this: the fusiform gyrus (specifically, the fusiform face area)— a sort of high-performance detection module. It takes 170 milliseconds to respond to a face, about twice as fast as a blink. Special feature: In the end the brain processes a face as a whole. First it must decide whether what it’s seen is really a face. Then actual recognition starts as facial expression is simultaneously analyzed. In other words, when we see people we not only establish their identity, we also assess their emotional state— and immediately prepare an appropriate response. Truly a remarkable feat…