Exploring face-name congruence

Researchers have found that social expectations and stereotypes may cause adults’ facial appearances to align with their given names over time.

In the first paradigm of a study, published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers asked adult and child participants to match faces with names. The adults more accurately matched the faces of adults than the faces of children.

In the second paradigm, the researchers used a machine learning model to evaluate similarities in the facial features of those with the same names. The model demonstrated that adults with the same names had more similar facial representations compared with children with the same names.

The researchers hypothesized that face-name congruence may develop over time through social processes rather than innate characteristics.

Read more: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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