Abstract
Being a special kind of visual stimulus, face is the most distinguishable index to discern an identity. Face is used to differentiate an recognize different individuals. Compared with object recognition, face stimuli and its processing is specified on the behavioral, ecological and cognitive levels. The evidences from selective damage in face recognition, the special phylogeny and individual development and the sensitivity to the orientation show that these two kinds of stimuli differ remarkably. Brain module is one of the central concerns of visual neuroscience and even the whole cognitive neuroscience. Interdisciplinary studies on both sides are reviewed in this article, and growing evidences demonstrate that specificity exists in face processing. Specialized module of face processing is supposed to be best support of modularity hypothesis of the cognitive architecture. However there are a lot of common aspects between face perception and object recognition, which argues against the specificity on behavioral and cellular levels. The anatomical overlap between face and object recognition lies in fusiform gyrus and Inferior temporal cortex. Module is an important concept in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Modularity hypothesis of visual processing cannot fully explain the complex mechanisms underlying face perception. However, it is defined by superimposed mosaics rather than universal modular subunits. Functional brain imaging cannot elucidate the specific mechanism of face processing. The mosaic cytoarchitecture in visual cortex exists on the low level of the visual processing, it is also the basic mechanism underlying the specific face perception even the whole visual perception.
| Keywords: | face recognition; specificity; module; mosaic; functional brain imaging; visual perception |
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