(1) Germine and her colleagues created an online face-recognition test, using six computer-generated faces of young, adult white males as targets.

(2) Germine, Duchaine, and Nakayama used the web-based Cambridge Face Memory Test to test recognition of computer-generated faces among some 44, 000 volunteers ages 10 to 70.

(3) Researchers Laura T. Germine, Dr. Ken Nakayama of Harvard University and Dr. Bradley Duchaine of Dartmouth College will publish their work in a forthcoming issue of the journal Cognition.

(4) Germine says the recognition success rate got better with age, up to a point.

(5) "Specialized face-processing in the brain may require an extended period of visual tuning during early adulthood to help individuals learn and recognize lots of different faces," Germine says.

(6) Scientists now need to track individuals from childhood to adulthood to confirm that face memory hits its prime shortly after age 30, Germine says.

(7) While prior evidence had suggested that face recognition might be slow to mature, Germine said few scientists had suspected that it might continue building for so many years into adulthood.

(8) "We all look at faces, and practice face-watching, all the time," says Germine, a Ph.D. student in psychology at Harvard.