Fish don’t have brain structure,
called neocortex, which people and domestic animals use to recognize faces.
However, the team at the University of Queensland at Australia managed to train
fish to tell one face from another.
According to the team’s report, the
fish were up to 89 percent accurate in telling apart human faces on a computer
screen, showing that archerfish (Toxotes chatareus) can learn to distinguish a
large number of human face images, even after controlling its color, head-shape
and brightness.
The archerfish is known for its
ability to spit streams of water to knock down insects and other prey, which
also means that it has to rely a lot on its vision in order to get a good look
at its target.
The fish were trained to recognize
images on a computer screen suspended over the tank and rewarding them with
food pellets when they got it right.
Most animals tested to have neocortex
have been domesticated, and may have experienced evolutionary pressure to
recognize their human keepers. Though, some animals who are lacking neocortex like
some bees and birds, are capable of some degree of human facial discrimination.
Crows and pigeons have shown to
recognize human faces especially well. Crows even recognize people in masks.
Source: NBC News
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