How Exactly Do Our Brains Recognize Faces?

The human brain has an incredible capacity to recognize and remember faces. But how exactly does facial recognition work?


Read More:
Precisely Targeted Electrical Brain Stimulation Alters Perception of Faces, Scientists Find
"In a painless clinical procedure performed on a patient with electrodes temporarily implanted in his brain, Stanford University doctors pinpointed two nerve clusters that are critical for face perception. The findings could have practical value in treating people with prosopagnosia - the inability to distinguish one face from another - as well in gaining an understanding of why some of us are so much better than others at recognizing and remembering faces."

The Perception of a Face Is No More Than the Sum of Its Parts
"When you see a person's face, how do you go about combining his or her facial features to make a decision about who that person is? Most current theories of face perception assert that the ability to recognize a human face is not simply the result of an independent analysis of individual features, but instead involves a holistic coding of the relationships among features."

Electrical Stimulation of Human Fusiform Face-Selective Regions Distorts Face Perception
"Face-selective neural responses in the human fusiform gyrus have been widely examined. However, their causal role in human face perception is largely unknown. Here, we used a multimodal approach of electrocorticography (ECoG), high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and electrical brain stimulation (EBS) to directly investigate the causal role of face-selective neural responses of the fusiform gyrus (FG) in face perception in a patient implanted with subdural electrodes in the right inferior temporal lobe."

Understanding Face Recognition
"The aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical model and a set of terms for understanding and discussing how we recognize familiar faces, and the relationship between recognition and other aspects of face processing. It is suggested that there are seven distinct types of information that we derive from seen faces; these are labelled pictorial, structural, visually derived semantic, identity-specific semantic, name, expression and facial speech codes. A functional model is proposed in which structural encoding processes provide descriptions suitable for the analysis of facial speech, for analysis of expression and for face recognition units."
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[reverendmothercheryl]

I suffer from prosopagnosia and have even misidentified family members who I know well. It's a difficult thing to work around but it's not as described in this video. Faces do look different from each other, but they seem to blur within facial types so if I was asked to pick out a friend among several similar looking people I'd be hard pressed. the context in which I interact with people helps considerably. "John has the office down the hall from mine. I see someone in the hall and they have the type of face that John has. It must be John." If I see John in the grocery store, I probably won't recognize him. If I do it's a remarkable event. It's a handicap, but I work hard to compensate.

[Nogardarret]

i have prosopagnosia, i figured this out a year or two ago through online research. i can vaguely register familiarity with a face, but i cant remember what people's faces look like, or read emotion. this has effected me in two major ways. one, im kind of freaked out by human faces and being looked at, and avoid eye contact. and since i have a hard time reading emotion, i also have a hard time with social connecting, so i empathize a lot more with animals than people. to cope with not remembering faces, i identify people by other qualities- hair, clothes, voice. i also look at pictures of my loved ones daily so i remember them better.

[a_name_a]

This should be called, "what parts of the brain might be responsible for facial recognition?". Who are we kidding, we know jack shit about how the brain actually works.

[SkrGuy]

Love this video! I've taken a genetic test that shows I carry an SNP allele combination in a gene that elevates my abilities with facial recognition. I have this "fame" with my immediate family where they are baffled by how well I recognize different faces I've seen before and how some people look like other people in certain features, etc. I have an Uncle that has an opposite allele combination in the same SNP, and the test showed he would have decreased facial recognition abilities--and I have certainly noticed he gets confused somewhat frequently on who's face is who's, etc., mostly when it's older pictures, or of people he knows when looking at their childhood pictures. I seem to have a sharp manner of still recognizing the same face as it's young, old, changed, etc. Thanks for the upload, DNews!

[I_dont_think_therefore...]

There is a book I saw once; whatever it's title was. I can't remember where or when or whom it was from but it gave lessons on how to remember people by looking at faces and visualizing their names.

[generalralph]

The key to recognizing faces extremely well is not to focus on the uniqueness of the face itself, but to concentrate on the emotional state of the person and their “face behavior.” Imagine you see a grocery store employee who is emotionally flat and distracted by something. Examine the eyes and mouth carefully for any emotional expression and try to guess what he is distracted by. That kind of analysis gives you “deep recognition, ” and you will remember that face in its context. To remember names, ask yourself if the person “looks” like their name. People unconsciously dress, act, and express themselves in accordance with their namesake. This sounds unbelievable, but it’s true, and it’s where the Karen meme comes from. This is especially pronounced with women. A Jennifer will look like a Jennifer. A Melissa will look like a Melissa. If the person doesn’t look like their namesake, ask if they have a nickname. People with nicknames tend to be unique, and their nickname is usually based on their behavior. For men, the main memetic trick is social behavior. A Kyle will act like a Kyle, etc. If a man introduces himself by a title (Examples: “I’m Ted, I’m an electrician!” “I am Assistant District Attorney Olbertson”) remember their title and disregard the name. Men who tell you their profession are more flattered to be remembered for what they do than how they are named because it means they’re doing a good job. “Hey, I know you! You’re that gutter cleaner! You clean some mean gutter!”

[Seeker]

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[mikeoz]

I say " what was your name again?"
"No, not your first name, your last name"

[neonsvampen]

I NEVER forget a face. Imagine how many Faces ive seen for 29 years... I cant always remember where ive seen/met them or their name but....

[nguyenie_the_pooh]

i will just pretend i didnt see them and walk away

[Theroseyyshow]

I feel like a have a special talent when it comes to recognizes people's faces. Most times I am able to recognizes a person's face after seeing them only once and i'll be able to tell you where i saw them and who they look-like. for instance, today i was with a friend, a saw a lady and based on looking at her face, i was very sure who i thought she was related to - which was another lady i saw but didn't know personally. so i go up to her, and ask her if she's related to that lady, and sure enough, she was a relative. It's so weird. Names on the other hand, i struggle.

[TheJoeSwanon]

Wow... I actually suffer from facial Blindness sure enough it started after a stroke and that's the hardest thing to try to explain to people what it is like

[shaypillay]

I didn't know J.Lo was this smart.

[Taco]

Oh nice! It's Lissette and Weve Met!

[FawstFit]

Hello this is Saad Hamdi from Morocco and im loving your channel keep shining.

[deltaxcd]

How do they know if it is recognition of facial features or geometric promitives?

we definitely must have system which recognizes circles lines repeat patterns and face recognition seems to be simple recognition of triangular patterns which is made of 2 similar objects and something below them what extends for a distance similar to distance between those objects.
any image which has this kind or pattern will be recognized as face it can be wall with 2 windows or smile like : )

[phizicks]

Oh I have strange episodes of face recognition. It pops into my head like a pattern match and then split second get a visual snapshot of the face where I remember them. When I was 35-ish I was at a bar waiting for friends and there were heaps of people when I spotted a guy ordering drinks which triggered the memory flash and I was trying to figure out what place that snapshot memory was. Then realised it was a company I worked for when I was 17 and this guy was an onsite techie who popped in and out during the year I worked there. He was shocked when I asked him if he worked there and he couldnt remember me at all. I told him everything about the company and he confirmed it all, but still couldnt remember me. lol it rarely happens now but when it did, it was pretty trippy.

[villalight]

I usually just smile and walk away lol

[stevewisniewski]

I’m dealing with a TBI and going through therapy with a PT and OT and speech therapist to GPs I’ve had two MRIs to CT‘s have to visit a chiropractor for some type of a brain massage and test which I can’t figure out what that is. I’m frustrated I’m overwhelmed. I slipped and fell apparently pretty hard landed on the back and lower right side of my ear and ear, back in February 2020. Over half of my hearing in that year is gone my vision is 30% gone in my left eye. Balance is off getting better every day but then there are days that everything seems to crash at the same time. I’m only 49. I am strong, I’m young. I’m confident but I’m embarrassed and I’m worried. Please forward more information so I can learn about this or give me sites that are truthful I want to learn how to deal with this on my own. My brains on fire yet I cannot convey my thoughts as fast as I used to. I love language, I am a musician and a chef and I feel like I’m diving down the hole. I know that’s a lot, help me.

[joycehandersonfriends]

Q UESTION: I'm terrible for remembering faces & names until I've been around a person a lot. on the basis of your video information, If I start focusing on practicing facial recognition techniques like the tricks shown on other sites on youtube, will that specialized section of my brain begin making lots more neurons and then with more neurons, will it be easier to remember new faces and names? Kinda like riding a bicycle?