I can't recognize your face but I can recognize its movement.
Idiosyncratic facial movements can provide a route to facial identity (review in Roark, Barrett, Spence, Abdi, & O'Toole, 2003). However, it is unclear whether recognizing a face in this way involves the same cognitive or neural mechanisms that are involved in recognizing a static face. Three studies on a developmental prosopagnosic (C.S.) showed that although he is impaired at recognizing static faces, he can discriminate between dynamic identities (Experiments 1a and 1b) and can learn to name individuals on the basis of their idiosyncratic facial movements (Experiment 2), at levels that are comparable to those of matched and undergraduate control groups. These results suggest a possible cognitive dissociation between mechanisms involved in dynamic compared to static face recognition. However, future work is needed to fully understand this dissociation.
Steede
Leslie L
LL
University of Sussex, Falmer, Sussex, UK. lls21@sussex.ac.uk
Tree
Jeremy J
JJ
Hole
Graham J
GJ
D000328:Adult; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception; D009068:Movement; D020238:Prosopagnosia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index