Categorization and Identification of Human Face Images by Neural Networks: A Review of the Linear Autoassociative and Principal Component Approaches

Recent statistical/neural network models of face processing suggest that faces can be efficiently represented in terms of the eigendecomposition of a matrix storing pixel-based descriptions of a set of face images. The studies presented here support the idea that the information useful for solving seemingly complex tasks such as face categorization or identification can be described using simple linear models (linear autoassociator or principal component analysis) in conjunction with a pixel-based coding of the faces.