Neuroscientists taking the "middle path" in nature/nurture debate

This week's reading really brought my attention to the

1. heated debate with a very long history regarding

and 2. dialectical (dialogic?) relationship between

nature and nurture.

So I found this study interesting...not just in its findings, but in its position in the nature/nurture debate.

Face Processing: The Interplay of Nature and Nurutre

Abstract

A number of behavioral and neuroscientific studies suggest that face processing is qualitatively different from the processing of other visual stimuli. Why? Is face processing in some sense innate? What role does experience play in the development of face processing? The authors review recent evidence related to these questions. They begin by identifying some of the ways in which face processing is special. They then consider findings that demonstrate a crucial role for experience-independent genetic mechanisms in the development of face processing and its neural substrates. Finally, the authors review studies demonstrating the crucial role played by experience-dependent mechanisms. These findings support the hypothesis that there is a genetic predisposition for a special face processing mechanism, but that experience plays a crucial role in tuning this mechanism during development.