Most recognition is based on identifying features, but specialization for face recognition in primates relies on a different mechanism, termed ‘holistic processing’ where facial features are bound together into a gestalt which is more than the sum of its parts. Here, we test whether individual face recognition in paper wasps also involved holistic processing using a modification of the classic part-whole test in two related paper wasp species: Polistes fuscatus, which use facial patterns to individually identify conspecifics, and Polistes dominula, which lacks individual recognition. We show that P. fuscatus use holistic processing to discriminate between P. fuscatus face images but not P. dominula face images. By contrast, P. dominula do not rely on holistic processing to discriminate between conspecific or heterospecific face images. Therefore, P. fuscatus wasps have evolved holistic face processing, but this ability is highly specific and shaped by species-specific and stimulus-specific selective pressures. Convergence towards holistic face processing in distant taxa (primates, wasps) as well as divergence among closely related taxa with different recognition behaviour (P. dominula, P. fuscatus) suggests that holistic processing may be a universal adaptive strategy to facilitate expertise in face recognition.

中文翻译：

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个体识别以特定物种的方式与 Polistes 纸黄蜂的整体面部处理相关联

大多数识别是基于识别特征，但灵长类动物面部识别的专业化依赖于一种不同的机制，称为“整体处理”，其中面部特征被绑定在一起形成一个格式塔，而不是其部分的总和。在这里，我们测试纸黄蜂中的个体面部识别是否也涉及整体处理，使用两个相关纸黄蜂物种的经典部分-整体测试的修改：Polistes fuscatus，它使用面部模式来单独识别同种动物，和 Polistes dominula，它缺乏个人认可。我们表明 P. fuscatus 使用整体处理来区分 P. fuscatus 面部图像而不是 P. dominula 面部图像。相比之下，P. dominula 不依赖整体处理来区分同种或异种人脸图像。所以，P. fuscatus 黄蜂已经进化出整体的面部处理能力，但这种能力是高度特异性的，并且受到物种特异性和刺激特异性选择压力的影响。远距离分类群（灵长类动物、黄蜂）的整体面部处理趋同以及具有不同识别行为的密切相关分类群（P. dominula、P. fuscatus）之间的分歧表明，整体处理可能是促进面部识别专业知识的通用自适应策略.