Why is expression so difficult but recognition so easy? If we can recognize something, don't we know

[bantwon]

If a face had the slightest thing wrong with it, we would notice. Yet if we tried to draw a face without a reference, we would have a difficult time. So we know a face extremely well, yet we barely know a face at all. Contradiction.

 

[Da Blob]

Human consciousness is actually extremely limited. We supplement actual consciousness with human imagination. Imagination, includes the function of different sorts of memory. Two of the prime types of long-term memory are Recall and Recognition memories. For some Recall is available easily, but Recognition quite difficult. For Others, Recognition is easy, but Recall not easily accessed.

It is to be remembered that memory is just a figment of imagination, whereas expression involves conscious actions. There really is no reason to believe that there is a direct causal link between one and the other.

One has to be practiced in Intent, the exercise of free will, to develop the artistry necessary for expression. Indeed one could be a scientist, who remembered and understood everything, but unless one was also an artist skilled in Expression, that knowledge will remain private.

 

[rrgjl]

The problem with faces is that we have a holistic way of looking at the world, whereas drawing faces actually requires you to see things as they are and not how you (unconsciously) interpret things. You for example don't see the shape that you would usually draw when you draw a face. When you see a professional artist draw a face, they might draw this oval shape as a help, but they definitely don't keep this hard oval line. They have learned to look in a different way, more like a newborn maybe? A way in which you really just see, and don't interpret.

 

[Da Blob]

I have seen sketch artists use a transparent grid to sketch faces. This is actually quite an old technique.

Often it is just a matter of finding a heuristic (rule of thumb) or algorithm - a formula for success. Expression does not have to be a unique event each time. Very little of Art is actually unique, but instead is built upon previous attempts at expression.

 

[BigApplePi]

I would like to know if an artist, say a cartoonist can look at a face, note the details because the artist has LEARNED how to do that and sketch without looking.

 

[Sorlaize]

your facial muscles are a much simpler construct than the visual maps of faces themselves. Even a small difference in facial structure means a HUGE difference.

But you yourself aren't conscious of those details; only the major ones; only a rough "mapping" of how to use your face. Which you associate with feelings. I wouldn't say it's difficult to express yourself facially

When you look, though, that's much faster because your brain is working CONSTANTLY to even see. Visual information is just so central to predicting cause and effect; seeing depth; practically most of our navigation & sense of balance relies on a constant visual feedback loop. So when you see a face, there's no delay in that chain which is cycling along really fast. As opposed to moving face muscles which takes (comparatively) much more time. When you see something your brain knows how to recognize that pattern really quickly, because of how highly developed our vision / visual cortex is.

You know what a keyboard key is for VERY quick reference. Your visual cortex has had to learn this stuff and create the optimized structures over time so that you can quickly look and type. Or maybe you learned to type with a spatial intelligence.. even better. But see, when people play video games, this all comes into account, and it's "not the person that learns" but the visual cortex and rewiring; restructuring of this information so that it flows better; so that the general overall function is better suited to the task. (video game; or in evolution's case, the organism and environment that came to influence each other)

 

[Paladin-X]

Recognition and expression are two different mental functions.

I can understand other languages, but I have a hard time speaking in them.

You can know what something looks like without knowing how to replicate it. It's not beyond our ability to figure it out, but it is not normally inherent or synonymous with recognition.

 

[walfin]

Pattern recognition is easier than memory. You only need a few distinctive markers.

It's like how we can do DNA tests by using a limited number of markers.

 

[Philovitist]

If a face had the slightest thing wrong with it, we would notice. Yet if we tried to draw a face without a reference, we would have a difficult time. So we know a face extremely well, yet we barely know a face at all. Contradiction.

Recognition is just remembering that you've observed something like this before.

Expression, as you call it, involves remembering a lot more than that and requires much more mental activity.

It's that simple.