Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

The speed of individual face categorization.

Corentin Jacques1, Bruno Rossion

  • 1Unité Cognition & Développement and Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. corentin.jacques@psp.ucl.ac.be

Psychological Science
|June 15, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Human face discrimination occurs rapidly, within 130 milliseconds of stimulus onset. This fast processing happens during the same timeframe as initial face detection, revealing the speed of our visual system.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Category-selective neural decreases in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex as defined with intracranial recordings.

NeuroImage·2026
Same author

Horizontal image compression significantly impairs human face identity recognition.

Brain research·2026
Same author

The critical role of the right anterior fusiform gyrus in unfamiliar face identity discrimination.

Brain structure & function·2026
Same author

Objective neural face recognition neuromodulation within a single transcranial direct current stimulation session.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
Same author

Lexical brain responses in 10-year-old children are impaired in dyslexia: An FPVS-EEG study.

Brain and cognition·2026
Same author

Intracerebral Electrical Stimulation of the Left Occipito-Temporal Cortex Induces Pure Alexia.

Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)·2025

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception
  • Human Face Recognition

Background:

  • Understanding the temporal dynamics of individual face discrimination is crucial for comprehending visual processing.
  • Previous research identified the N170 component as critical for distinguishing faces from objects, but its role in individual face discrimination speed was less clear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the earliest possible time point at which the human visual system can discriminate between individual faces.
  • To investigate the neural underpinnings of rapid individual face discrimination using electrophysiological measures.

Main Methods:

  • Employed a continuous-stimulation paradigm to record event-related potentials (ERPs).
  • Presented sequences of face stimuli, measuring ERPs relative to preceding face stimuli, not a blank baseline.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analyzed ERPs, specifically focusing on deflections around the N170 latency (130-160 ms) at posterior scalp sites.

    • Main Results:

    • An early negative ERP deflection was observed starting at 130 ms and peaking at 160 ms post-stimulus onset.
    • This ERP component showed significantly larger amplitude when participants viewed a different individual face compared to the same individual face.
    • The physical distance between face stimuli was controlled, isolating the effect to perceptual discrimination rather than low-level visual differences.

    Conclusions:

    • Individual face discrimination in humans can occur remarkably early, as soon as 130 ms after stimulus presentation.
    • This rapid discrimination happens within the same temporal window as basic face detection, suggesting highly efficient visual processing.
    • The findings provide direct electrophysiological evidence for the speed and efficiency of the human visual system in recognizing unique individuals.