Exploring Recognition with Interchanged Facial Features

Any attempt to unravel the mechanism underlying the process of human face recognition must begin with experiments that explore human sensitivity to differences between a perceived image and an original memory trace. A set of three consecutive experiments are reported that were collectively designed to measure the relative importance of different facial features. The method involved the use of image-processing equipment to interchange cardinal features among frontally viewed target faces. Observers were required to indicate which of the original target faces most resembled the modified faces. The results clearly establish the dominant influence of the head outline as the major recognition feature. Next in importance is the eye/eyebrow combination, followed by the mouth, and then the nose. As a recognition feature in a frontally presented face, the nose is hardly noticed. The number of apparently random responses to some faces indicates that a surprisingly different face can sometimes arise from a fortuitous combination of the old features.