Perception and Recognition of Faces in Adolescence

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2016 Sep 21

PMID 27647477

Citations 17

Authors

D Fuhrmann

L J Knoll

A L Sakhardande

M Speekenbrink

K C Kadosh

S-J Blakemore

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Most studies on the development of face cognition abilities have focussed on childhood, with early maturation accounts contending that face cognition abilities are mature by 3-5 years. Late maturation accounts, in contrast, propose that some aspects of face cognition are not mature until at least 10 years. Here, we measured face memory and face perception, two core face cognition abilities, in 661 participants (397 females) in four age groups (younger adolescents (11.27-13.38 years); mid-adolescents (13.39-15.89 years); older adolescents (15.90-18.00 years); and adults (18.01-33.15 years)) while controlling for differences in general cognitive ability. We showed that both face cognition abilities mature relatively late, at around 16 years, with a female advantage in face memory, but not in face perception, both in adolescence and adulthood. Late maturation in the face perception task was driven mainly by protracted development in identity perception, while gaze perception abilities were already comparatively mature in early adolescence. These improvements in the ability to memorize, recognize and perceive faces during adolescence may be related to increasing exploratory behaviour and exposure to novel faces during this period of life.

Citing Articles

Face Processing in Prematurely Born Individuals-A Systematic Review.

Tang T, Pledts K, Moerkerke M, Van der Donck S, Bollen B, Steyaert J Brain Sci. 2025; 14(12.

PMID: 39766368 PMC: 11675004. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14121168.

Face-specific identification impairments following sight-providing treatment may be alleviated by an initial period of low visual acuity.

Gilad-Gutnick S, Hu H, Dalrymple K, Gupta P, Shah P, Ralekar C Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):17374.

PMID: 39075093 PMC: 11286960. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67949-z.

Revisiting adolescence as a sensitive period for sociocultural processing.

Cheng T, Mills K, Pfeifer J Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2024; 164:105820.

PMID: 39032845 PMC: 11407824. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105820.

How is race perceived during adolescence? A meta-analysis of the own-race bias.

Dai J, Griffin J, Scherf K Dev Psychol. 2024; 60(4):649-664.

PMID: 38483484 PMC: 11446075. DOI: 10.1037/dev0001721.

Development of implicit and explicit attentional modulation of the processing of social cues conveyed by faces and bodies in children and adolescents.

Oldrati V, Bardoni A, Poggi G, Urgesi C Front Psychol. 2024; 14:1320923.

PMID: 38222848 PMC: 10784122. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1320923.

References

Mondloch C, Le Grand R, Maurer D . Configural face processing develops more slowly than featural face processing. Perception. 2002; 31(5):553-66. DOI: 10.1068/p3339. View

McGivern R, Andersen J, Byrd D, Mutter K, Reilly J . Cognitive efficiency on a match to sample task decreases at the onset of puberty in children. Brain Cogn. 2002; 50(1):73-89. DOI: 10.1016/s0278-2626(02)00012-x. View

Adolphs R . Cognitive neuroscience of human social behaviour. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2003; 4(3):165-78. DOI: 10.1038/nrn1056. View

Mondloch C, Dobson K, Parsons J, Maurer D . Why 8-year-olds cannot tell the difference between Steve Martin and Paul Newman: factors contributing to the slow development of sensitivity to the spacing of facial features. J Exp Child Psychol. 2004; 89(2):159-81. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2004.07.002. View

Behrmann M, Avidan G . Congenital prosopagnosia: face-blind from birth. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005; 9(4):180-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.02.011. View

Duchaine B, Nakayama K . The Cambridge Face Memory Test: results for neurologically intact individuals and an investigation of its validity using inverted face stimuli and prosopagnosic participants. Neuropsychologia. 2005; 44(4):576-85. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.07.001. View

Bukach C, Gauthier I, Tarr M . Beyond faces and modularity: the power of an expertise framework. Trends Cogn Sci. 2006; 10(4):159-66. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2006.02.004. View

Tomasello M, Carpenter M . Shared intentionality. Dev Sci. 2006; 10(1):121-5. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00573.x. View

Casey B, Getz S, Galvan A . The adolescent brain. Dev Rev. 2008; 28(1):62-77. PMC: 2500212. DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.003. View

10.

Crookes K, McKone E . Early maturity of face recognition: no childhood development of holistic processing, novel face encoding, or face-space. Cognition. 2009; 111(2):219-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.02.004. View

11.

Cohen Kadosh K, Walsh V, Cohen Kadosh R . Investigating face-property specific processing in the right OFA. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2010; 6(1):58-65. PMC: 3023081. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq015. View

12.

Mondloch C, Robbins R, Maurer D . Discrimination of facial features by adults, 10-year-olds, and cataract-reversal patients. Perception. 2010; 39(2):184-94. DOI: 10.1068/p6153. View

13.

Wilhelm O, Herzmann G, Kunina O, Danthiir V, Schacht A, Sommer W . Individual differences in perceiving and recognizing faces-One element of social cognition. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2010; 99(3):530-48. DOI: 10.1037/a0019972. View

14.

Germine L, Duchaine B, Nakayama K . Where cognitive development and aging meet: face learning ability peaks after age 30. Cognition. 2010; 118(2):201-10. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2010.11.002. View

15.

Gur R, Richard J, Calkins M, Chiavacci R, Hansen J, Bilker W . Age group and sex differences in performance on a computerized neurocognitive battery in children age 8-21. Neuropsychology. 2012; 26(2):251-265. PMC: 3295891. DOI: 10.1037/a0026712. View

16.

Cohen Kadosh K . Differing processing abilities for specific face properties in mid-childhood and adulthood. Front Psychol. 2012; 2:400. PMC: 3270333. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00400. View

17.

McKone E, Crookes K, Jeffery L, Dilks D . A critical review of the development of face recognition: experience is less important than previously believed. Cogn Neuropsychol. 2012; 29(1-2):174-212. DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2012.660138. View

18.

Scherf K, Behrmann M, Dahl R . Facing changes and changing faces in adolescence: a new model for investigating adolescent-specific interactions between pubertal, brain and behavioral development. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012; 2(2):199-219. PMC: 4630976. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.07.016. View

19.

Cohen Kadosh K, Johnson M, Henson R, Dick F, Blakemore S . Differential face-network adaptation in children, adolescents and adults. Neuroimage. 2012; 69:11-20. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.11.060. View

20.

Sommer W, Hildebrandt A, Kunina-Habenicht O, Schacht A, Wilhelm O . Sex differences in face cognition. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2012; 142(1):62-73. DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.11.001. View