Facial recognition keeps growing

THE PART of the human brain that is involved in facial recognition keeps developing into adulthood, a pair of new studies found, surprising scientists who thought brain tissue growth stopped in early childhood.

Researchers led by Kalanit GrillSpector, a psychology professor at Stanford University, examined the brains of children and adults using a new type of imaging technique, focusing on an area of the cerebral cortex that plays a key role in facial recognition.

In the study published in the Cerebral Cortex journal, researchers showed that regions of the brain that recognise faces have a unique cellular makeup.

In a separate study published in Science, they explained how they found microscopic structures within that region that change as children grow into adulthood.

The growth in tissue mirrored changes in a person’s ability to distinguish faces, explaining why adults are better than children in telling faces apart.

The study involved 47 people – 22 children between the ages of five and 12, and 25 adults between the ages of 22 and 28.

Researchers determined that the adults had proportionally 12.6% more cerebral matter in the fusiform gyrus, the part of the brain that contains faceprocessing regions, than the children.

The fusiform gyrus is an anatomical structure unique to humans and great apes. – AFP-Relaxnews