Faces of Perception
It's tough to explain how people so easily tell one face from another
By Bruce Bower
Newborn babies are wrinkled, wide-eyed strangers in a strange land of light, shadow, and color. Nonetheless, these little bundles of visual innocence take an immediate shine to faces.
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Just a few hours after birth, infants begin to imitate adults’ smiles, frowns, and other expressions. Given a choice, the same babies gaze longer at a picture of their mother’s face than at an image of the face of a female stranger. They also boast a budding aptitude for telling strangers’ faces apart and give particular notice to faces rated as attractive by adults.