Oxford Handbook of Face Perception

• Main Authors: Calder, Andy, Rhodes, Gillian, Johnson, Mark, Haxby, Jim
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 28.07.2011; Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Edition: 1
• Series: Oxford Library of Psychology
• Subjects: attractiveness; expression; eye gaze; Face perception; facial characteristics; human face; identity; personality traits; Psychology; race; social stimuli
• ISBN: 0199559058; 9780199559053
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199559053.001.0001

The human face is unique among social stimuli in conveying such a variety of different characteristics. A person's identity, sex, race, age, emotional state, focus of attention, facial speech patterns, and attractiveness are all detected and interpreted with relative ease from the face. Humans also display a surprising degree of consistency in the extent to which personality traits, such as trustworthiness and likeability, are attributed to faces. In the past thirty years, face perception has become an area of major interest within psychology, with a rapidly expanding research base. Yet until now, there has been no comprehensive reference work bringing together this ever growing body of research. The Oxford Handbook of Face Perception looks at the functional and neural mechanisms underlying the perception, representation, and interpretation of facial characteristics, such as identity, expression, eye gaze, attractiveness, personality, and race. It examines the development of these processes, their neural correlates in both human and non-human primates, congenital and acquired disorders resulting from their breakdown, and the theoretical and computational frameworks for their underlying mechanisms.