The own-species face bias: A review of developmental and comparative data

Abstract

Face recognition is characterized in part by biases resulting in enhanced perception and memory for individuals within frequently encountered groups and impaired recognition for individuals within uncommonly encountered groups. These biases are found across multiple categories and levels, including species, race, age, and gender (Scherf & Scott, 2012). At the highest level of categorization, human adults and nonhuman primates exhibit improved recognition (Dufour, Pascalis, & Petit, 2006; Pascalis & Bachevalier, 1998) and discrimination abilities (Pascalis, de Haan, & Nelson, 2002) for individuals within their own species, reflecting what has been called an “own-species” or “species-specific” bias in face processing. The own-species bias is a model system for delineating the role of experience and the developmental trajectory of face-processing biases, for further understanding the malleability of face biases in adults, and for examining and comparing face-processing abilities across species. Here, we will review findings from studies investigating the perception of other-species faces during development, into adulthood and across species.

Keywords:

• Face perception
• Own-species effect
• Development

This work was partially supported by funding awarded to LSS by a National Science Foundation CAREER award (BCS-1056805). The authors would like to thank members of the Brain, Cognition and Development Lab (UMASS) for relevant discussion and reviewers of a previous version of this manuscript for their thoughtful comments and critiques.

This work was partially supported by funding awarded to LSS by a National Science Foundation CAREER award (BCS-1056805). The authors would like to thank members of the Brain, Cognition and Development Lab (UMASS) for relevant discussion and reviewers of a previous version of this manuscript for their thoughtful comments and critiques.

Notes

¹ Although beyond the scope of this review, some aspects of visual development are still maturing into childhood (e.g., contrast sensitivity) and may have consequences for the development of face perception (see Maurer, Mondloch, & Lewis, 2007).