title: Human face recognition ability is specific and highly heritable.
abstract: Compared with notable successes in the genetics of basic sensory transduction, progress on the genetics of higher level perception and cognition has been limited. We propose that investigating specific cognitive abilities with well-defined neural substrates, such as face recognition, may yield additional insights. In a twin study of face recognition, we found that the correlation of scores between monozygotic twins (0.70) was more than double the dizygotic twin correlation (0.29), evidence for a high genetic contribution to face recognition ability. Low correlations between face recognition scores and visual and verbal recognition scores indicate that both face recognition ability itself and its genetic basis are largely attributable to face-specific mechanisms. The present results therefore identify an unusual phenomenon: a highly specific cognitive ability that is highly heritable. Our results establish a clear genetic basis for face recognition, opening this intensively studied and socially advantageous cognitive trait to genetic investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA. jwilmer@wellesley.edu
authors.forename: Jeremy B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Wilmer
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Germine
authors.forename: Christopher F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chabris
authors.forename: Garga
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Loken
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Duchaine
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D040582:Inheritance Patterns / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult