a) My interest in Neolithic face (NF) began by serendipitous observations along 1000 miles long Sepik River of Papua New Guinea in 1971. I noted a consistent basic difference between the face depictions in the art the frequently visited and missionized (literate) Middle Sepik region as against the exclusive NF representation in drawings as well as in the ritual sacred art of the pre-literate Upper Sepik River region (that had only been opened since the late 1960’s Even then it was rarely visited, since the Swiss expert Alfred Buehler had written:“there is virtually nothing in the way of art in the Upper Sepik region”.

However, by chance , shortly after the completion of a ritual, I came across Upper Sepik sacred ritual woodcarvings and clay figures.which were all destroyed after one use, since they had lost their “mana”. Such ritual objects presented “neolithic faces” and were very rarely revealed to strangers not even to the expert Dr. Douglas Newton . (He graciously acknowledged the authenticity of my collection in writing and told me that he had spent 3 x 6 months each looking in vain specifically for such art for the then Rockefeller Museum of Primitive Art in New York City).

b) After having tested many face drawing with the DAPF, I identified certain “ visual or spatial” dyslexics (from a Heidelberg School, where 3rd grade students had not yet been taught how to draw a face (in contrast to schools in USA, where Sesami Street had also already been on TV) .

c) The face drawing test, was later supplemented by culture-fair modifications of the Kohs Block Design test and administered to pre-literate “stone-age” Amazonian Auca Indians (Brain & Cognition l989;10:54-75) and to various hunter-gatherers on 3 continents, eg. Experientia (was available in the HMS Reference Room) 1976;32:1431-1435 – same, 1980;36:83-86 – same, 1982;38:579-587..

Note: Many drawings of the human body by various tribes people, photo copies of the 30 Upper Sepik River ritual objects (Figs 1 & 2, JAMWA 1974;29:434-444) reprints on NF and travel diary are available on HOLLIS : http://www.radcliffe.edu/schlesinger_library.aspx (Click on HOLLIS Classic and search on Pontius, Anneliese Alma.). ”

d 1) Using NF and control masks, I tested newborns’ reflex-like wide-open mouth “smiling response” (disappearing after c. 4 months of life) . The newborns “smiled” significantly faster ( p< 0.001) to “neolithic face“ patterns than to 4 control masks, including my natural face (Experientia 1975;31:126-128).

. d2) As an example of the very short time widow of the “smiling response” (probably fostering bonding between newborn and care giver) consider my accidental observations of one- year- olds, who happened to enter the test situation while NF masks were worn .These infants screamed with fright and clang to their nurses’ legs.

Such fright reaction to “NF” by persons older than 4 months has also been reported to me by the Upper Sepik art expert Dr. Douglas Newton, who graciously explained to me that my 5 small clay-faces with NF (JAMWA 1974 29: 435-44, Fig’s 1 & 2) were used to frighten children into weaning. Further, shields with NF, he said, were used during fights to frighten the enemies.

(Not by accident, it seems, do certain modern artists, and particularly advertisers etc show NF’ patterns to catch attention).

Supporting the innateness of the neuro-developmentally early pattern of NF are the following findings (as listed in the Encyclopedia of Human Biology 1997:Vol. 3:513-527).

a) NF is reacted to preferentially during the brief-lasting period of the reflex-like wide-open-mouth “smiling response” existing only up to 4 months of age (Pontius., Experientia 1975;31:126-128 (above).

b NF resurfaces regressively in the pathological dysfunction of the posterior neocortex in prosop-agnosia, where specifically the familiar face is no longer recognized, since it appears to the patient as “flattened out”, “without any relief” (J.Bodamer ,Arch .Psychiatrie & Nervenkrankheiten 1947:179:6-54) . Such a dysfunction erases precisely the subtle visuo-spatial processing of the root of the nose area (as tested by the DAPF).

Such rare patients’ few published face drawings also show mostly NF.

c) NF also re-appears regressively in the drawings of US-educated “skid row” alcoholics (Pontius, Ann. New York Academy Sci’s, 1985;444:475-477.)

d) Strikingly, the NF resurfaces as an apparently unchanging global schema, persisting even in a patient suffering from “unilateral neglect” of one side of the visual field due to a unilateral parieto-occipital tumor, as unwittingly depicted by A.R. Luria (“Higher Cortical Functions in Man”, Basic Books, 1980, Fig. 41). This patient “copied” from samples only one half of all non-human objects. However he “copied” even from normal face samples both(!) sides of NF.

Consistency between Hypothesizing on “amygdalar shortcut” processing (Pontius 1998) and that proposed by neuroscientists (2003)

Intriguingly and independently recent research by neuroscientists using fMRI & ERPS (Science 2003;300:568-569, Fig. 1) has engendered the same hypothesis of a second , i.e. amygdalar visual pathway with faster (by c. 250 msec) but cruder processing, by-passing refined neocortical processing., exemplified by their “blurred face” in Fig. 1.

Their “blurred face” is consistent with NF: both omit any indication of the suble visuo-spatial relations of the root of the nose area

Correspondingly, I too had hypothesized in regard to NF the existence of “amygdalar shortcut” processing, by-passing refined neocortical processing, to explain the crude NF (HMS Research Day Poster Session 1989).

That such a coarse processing is also faster and might be life-saving was supported by significant results of the two tests (above) with pre-literate tribes peoples living in constant fear for life due to warring neighbors in remote areas on 3 continents. By contrast, non-NF face drawings were produced by peaceful and largely literate controls living nearby (Aggression & Violent Behavior (Elsevier) 2005:10:363-373.

Thus, future use of NF patterns may prove valid and meaningful within its naturalistic context in certain sophisticated research designs related to the human face pattern.