FEBRUARY 5, 2024

Science Seminar students participated in the annual "Talking Science" event at Rockefeller University, where they learned through lecture and activities about the neuroscience of visual perception with a focus on how the brain recognizes and perceives faces. At the lecture, students heard from Denise A. and Eugene W. Chinery Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Neural Systems at Rockefeller University Winrich Freiwald, PhD. Students then participated in a Q and A session with the speaker, asking him some terrific questions, including Julia G. '25, who wanted to know if there was an evolutionary reason for "face recognizing neurons" firing not only when faces were seen, but also when inanimate objects such as fruit or vegetables that resemble faces, but clearly are not human faces, are seen.

Following the Q&A, students participated in interactive activities led by scientists at Rockefeller University, where they learned more about how the brain processes faces, how the brain can be tripped up when processing faces, and how facial recognition software based on neuroscience can be used to identify and track faces, and even find their celebrity doppelgänger.