Several parts of the brain are responsible for the recognition of aspects of the face. The fusiform gyrus in the temporal lobe does, however, appear to be particularly important in facial perception. In particular, the brain is exceptionally sensitive to small changes in the shapes of the eyes and mouth. This makes evolutionary sense for humans, since so much of our understanding of the emotional state of another person comes from detecting subtle changes in these parts of the face. Primates in general, and humans in particular, recognise not only individual faces, but also pick up important communication and emotional cues from the eyes and mouth. This resource is for teachers, parents and carers to use in Sciences (SCN 1-12b / SCN 2-11b / SCN 2-12b / SCN 3-12a) for First / Second / Third (P2 – S3).
Peter Reid