9                                    A Familiar Face

There is a real question here: if one sees a face that is familiar but belongs to someone you dislike, does the first moment of recognition produce a tiny spasm of pleasure --- (before being immediately overwhelmed by a flood of more disagreeable feelings)?

        According to the Central Idea of this web-page, such a fleeting spasm should be present, but I know of no evidence that it is; as far as I know, the matter has never been investigated. Of course, when you see the face of someone you like, that is a pleasure but again, there is no evidence that the first moment of recognition contributes to it. The moment when we recognize a face is a moment of emotion and so needs to be considered on these pages, but I am afraid there is too much emotion on such an occasion for us to be able to detect the effect that I speculate is there.

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