Face recognition: lessons from a wasp.
The golden paper wasp is a social insect whose colony members have the remarkable ability to recognise each others' faces. New research shows that this species is singularly skilled at learning about faces, opening interesting perspectives on convergent evolution of specialist cognitive abilities in insects and vertebrates.
Biological and Experimental Psychology Group, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK. a.avargues-weber@qmul.ac.uk
Aurore
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Avarguès-Weber
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003071:Cognition; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D007858:Learning; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity; D014863:Wasps / Q000502:physiology*