Human brain's face recognition develops into adulthood: studies

WASHINGTON – The part of the human brain involved in face recognition keeps developing into adulthood, a pair of new studies found, surprising scientists who thought brain tissue growth stopped in early childhood. Researchers led by Kalanit Grill-Spector, a psychology professor at Stanford University, examined the brains of children and adults using a new type of imaging technique, focusing on an area of the cerebral cortex that plays a key role in face recognition. In a study published in Cerebral Cortex, the researchers showed that regions of the brain that recognize faces have a unique cellular makeup. In a separate study published in Science, they explained how they found microscopic structures within that region that change as children grow into adulthood. The growth in tissue mirrored changes in a person's ability to distinguish faces, which would explain why adults are better than children in telling faces apart.