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Me, My Left Brain and I: Recognising yourself and others

April 19, 2004

Whereas the right side of the brain seems to be used for identifying other people's faces, the left side of the brain is used when we recognise our own. Reports out from psychologists today suggest that this means the right side of the brain is used to perceive others and the left side of the brain is specialised for processing the self.

These are the findings of research conducted by Nuala Brady, Mark Campbell and Mary Flaherty of University College, Dublin, presented today, Saturday 17 April 2004, at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference at Imperial College, London.

Dr Brady and colleagues presented 99 people with pictures of mirror-symmetric faces, which were composed of one half of a face combined with a mirror-reversed copy of itself.

People studied two such composite faces (one composed of the left half, and one of the right half), for either themselves or for a close friend. The task was to decide which of the two faces was the better likeness, either from memory or by matching the composite with a true photograph.

It was found that people prefer the image of the left-hand side composite face (which is processed in the right of the brain) for pictures of a close friend, but for pictures of themselves, this pattern is reversed. This was true both when thinking about faces from memory and when matching the composite pictures with a true image.

The authors suggest that this supports the idea of a specialised self-recognition system. Dr Brady says: "Self-recognition is a precursor to self-awareness and to a corresponding awareness of the mental states of others. There is general agreement that having a self-recognition system separate from a system dedicated to the recognition of others makes good evolutionary sense."

British Psychological Society (BPS)

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