In studies of face recognition development, the plateau occurs at which age?

• A. 14 years
• B. 10 years
• C. 12 years
• D. 16 years

Answer: (A)

Face recognition follows a developmental path where performance improves through childhood and adolescence as perceptual systems mature and experience with faces accumulates. The idea of a plateau refers to a point where gains level off and further growth in accuracy or speed becomes small. Across longitudinal studies, this stabilization tends to occur by mid-adolescence, when recognition abilities reach a level close to adult performance and subsequent changes are modest. This reflects the maturation of specialized face-processing mechanisms and the refinement of configural processing through maturation and experience. So, the plateau is reached in the mid-teens. Earlier ages are still undergoing rapid development, while later ages already show adult-like performance, so they don’t represent the leveling-off point.