Faces Try to be Recognized

 Many of us claim that we never forget a face, but it turns out that there's an excellent reason for that. Faces are very good at being recognized. Dr. Michael Sheehan, a post-doctoral Fellow from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, has found that variation in facial features is far greater than variation in other parts of our anatomy, and that this makes our faces particularly distinctive and recognizable. Furthermore, by studying the genetic roots of facial features, he's found evidence that this variation and distinctiveness has been favoured for selection by evolution. In other words, evolution has been working to make our faces recognizable. He suggests this is a way evolution has facilitated our complex social relationships.

Related Links