Puberty can change the way how humans recognise faces

New York: Apart from the many mental and physical changes that teegers go through as they enter puberty, new research has found that adolescents also begin to view faces differently. The face, which is known as the index of mind, is as unique as fingerprints and can reveal a great deal of information about our health, persolity, age, and feelings.  The transition into adulthood literally changes the way people see faces — which includes showing a bias toward adult female faces as children, to preferring peer faces that match their own developmental stage in puberty.

This process is part of the social metamorphosis that prepares them to take on adult social roles, the study said.

“For the first time, the study has shown how puberty, not age, shapes humans’ ability to recognise faces as they grow into adults,” said Suzy Scherf, Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University.

The findings showed that puberty shapes the subtle emergence of social behaviours that are important for adolescents’ transition to adulthood.

“This likely happens due to hormones influencing the brain and the nervous system reorganisation that occurs during this time,” Scherf added.

For the study, the researchers recruited 116 adolescents and young adults — all in the same age group — and separated them into four pubertal groups depending on their stage of puberty.

Any differences in the way they responded to faces were related to their pubertal status, not their age. The participants were presented with 120 gray-scale photographs of male and female faces. (IANS)