People who have trouble recognizing faces may be relieved to know that the problem may not be related to poor memory or eyesight, but could be in their genes, new research suggests.
Studies on the genetics of higher level perception and cognition has been limited. To study if genes have any impact on face recognition mechanism and to shed light on brain mechanism related to processing images, researchers included 164 identical twins (who share all of their genes) and 125 non-identical, same-sex twins (who share 50 percent of their genes). All of the study participants took part in a face memory test.
Compared to non-identical twins, identical twins were found to be twice as similar to each other in their ability to recognise faces. It was also found that the genetic-related processes involved in face recognition are linked to a specific mechanism in the brain that's unrelated to other processes such as the ability to recognise words or abstract art.
The above findings show that shared genes, not shared family environment, contribute greatly to face recognition ability.
Studies on the genetics of higher level perception and cognition has been limited. To study if genes have any impact on face recognition mechanism and to shed light on brain mechanism related to processing images, researchers included 164 identical twins (who share all of their genes) and 125 non-identical, same-sex twins (who share 50 percent of their genes). All of the study participants took part in a face memory test.
Compared to non-identical twins, identical twins were found to be twice as similar to each other in their ability to recognise faces. It was also found that the genetic-related processes involved in face recognition are linked to a specific mechanism in the brain that's unrelated to other processes such as the ability to recognise words or abstract art.
The above findings show that shared genes, not shared family environment, contribute greatly to face recognition ability.