The Nativism-Empiricism Debate: A Review of Neuroscientific Findings of Face Perception

The nativist-empiricist debate has stimulated much research in developmental psychology. Although many classical behavioural studies propose face perception as a case of nativism, there is still evidence supporting opposing views. Considering the functional advantages of neuroscience techniques in investigating this topic, the author has conducted a critical review of several significant neuroscientific findings on face perception. This paper concludes that researchers can learn more from neuroscientific studies than behavioural research. Moreover, the results obtained from distinct neuroscience techniques suggest that face perception leans toward a nativist account. Neuroscience techniques should be encouraged in future research to resolve the nativism-empiricism debate regarding face perception and other topics.