The Connection Between Eye Tracking and Facial Recognition
An article posted last month at Emory University’s student newspaper, The Emory Wheel, cites a study that was recently conducted at the Yerkes National Primate Center in which researchers demonstrate that capuchin monkeys are able to recognize familiar faces in photographs. The monkeys, in fact, were found to recognize faces in photographs similar to the way in which humans identify faces.
Until recently, it was believed that only humans had the ability to recognize and differentiate between faces, but Jennifer Pokorny, Principal Investigator on the Primate Center’s research team, says that the new studies show the trait once believed unique to humans is in fact shared by monkeys, demonstrating that facial recognition is an ancient and basic evolutionary process.
The researchers spent two and a half years training the monkeys during which they completed a series of oddity tasks where the capuchins would correctly choose from four images of similarly faced monkeys on a touch screen. The monkeys were able to identify one “in-group” member as odd among the three “out-group” members, or vice versa – one “out-group” member among three “in-group” members. The research demonstrates the monkeys’ ability to take advantage of their personal knowledge and successfully distinguish between strangers and familiar members of their group, says Pokorny.
When the monkeys were shown new photographs both in color and black and white, the monkeys apparently continued to successfully identify faces and differentiate between them, as well as when presented with individuals they hadn’t seen before in pictures, but with whom they were personally familiar. “The research shows that humans and other related primates possess a highly developed capacity for face recognition, which resembles the human capacity both cognitively and neurologically,” says Pokorny, and according to the article, the research ‘may facilitate additional breakthroughs in the understanding of the neural structure of capuchins, which can then be used to study human disorders where individuals lose their ability to recognize faces.’
Of course, we’re a little biased here at EyeTrackingUpdate.com, but after reading this article I was thinking it might be fascinating to see this study performed with eye tracking. I’m familiar with some eye tracking studies completed with monkeys in the past, but I haven’t seen any along the same lines as the research at Emory University. The touch screen approach demonstrates the monkeys’ ability to differentiate between strangers and members of their group, but I’m curious where exactly the monkeys are looking when making these decisions. Do they look at the eyes? The shape of the mouth? Size of the nose? Color patterns? I’ll take a look around, but if anyone knows of anything, feel free to pass it along or post in the comments section.
Yerkes Finds Monkeys Identify Faces
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