2008/04/04 by Matthias S. Keil, Keil, Matthias S.
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Neuroscience · #Aesthetic Perception and Analysis #FOS: Biological sciences #Face Recognition and Perception #Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC) #Visual perception and processing mechanisms #q-bio.NC
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0804.0759
6 pages, 11 figures, submitted to a peer-reviewed journal
arxiv created 2008/04/04 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Psychophysical experiments suggested a relative importance of a narrow band of spatial frequencies for recognition of face identity in humans. There exists, however, no conclusive evidence of why it is that such frequencies are preferred. To address this question, I examined the amplitude spectra of a large number of face images, and observed that face spectra generally fall off steeper with spatial frequency compared to ordinary natural images. When external face features (like hair) are suppressed, then whitening of the corresponding mean amplitude spectra revealed higher response amplitudes at those spatial frequencies which are deemed important for processing face identity. The results presented here therefore provide support for that face processing characteristics match corresponding stimulus properties.