Over time, the right results will emerge

ABSTRACT

Scientific research involves going beyond the well-trodden and well-tested ideas and theories that form the core of scientific knowledge. During the time scientists are working things out, some results will be right, and others will be wrong. Over time, the right results will emerge. Lisa Randall (Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science, Physics Department, Harvard University)

We are grateful to all the commentators for the important and thoughtful comments raised in response to the Geskin and Behrmann (G & B) literature survey. The issues raised in the introduction to this Special Issue and in these commentaries not only address and challenge aspects of the G & B literature review, but contribute perspectives and extensions that go well beyond the scope of the review. As is evident from G & B and from the 13 commentaries, many aspects of congenital prosopagnosia (CP) remain controversial. Adopting the language of the quote above, the intention of the G & B survey, along with the commentaries and this response, is to establish a collaborative process from which the right results (and right theory) will emerge in time. We are grateful to the editor of this Special Issue, Dr. Brad Mahon, for his support and for facilitating this collaborative exchange in Cognitive Neuropsychology.

KEYWORDS:

• Congenital prosopagnosia
• face recognition
• object recognition

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to David Plaut and Galia Avidan for the valuable suggestions and constructive comments provided during our preparation of this response.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We thank Joel Greenhouse from the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at Carnegie Mellon for discussing these data and proposing this possibility.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation [grant number BCS0923763].