The own-species face bias: A review of developmental and comparative data

Abstract

Face recognition is characterized in part by biases resulting in enhanced perception and memory for individuals within frequently encountered groups and impaired recognition for individuals within uncommonly encountered groups. These biases are found across multiple categories and levels, including species, race, age, and gender (Scherf & Scott, 2012). At the highest level of categorization, human adults and nonhuman primates exhibit improved recognition (Dufour, Pascalis, & Petit, 2006; Pascalis & Bachevalier, 1998) and discrimination abilities (Pascalis, de Haan, & Nelson, 2002) for individuals within their own species, reflecting what has been called an “own-species” or “species-specific” bias in face processing. The own-species bias is a model system for delineating the role of experience and the developmental trajectory of face-processing biases, for further understanding the malleability of face biases in adults, and for examining and comparing face-processing abilities across species. Here, we will review findings from studies investigating the perception of other-species faces during development, into adulthood and across species.