Unaware of such criticism, Pontius, who wasinterviewed by phone last Friday, says she plansto expand her research and examine a possible linkbetween the inability to represent faces correctlyand the literacy level of today's adolescents.

"The neolithic period of art is by definitionan illiterate period," Pontius says. She adds thatas soon as the hunter-gatherers developed awritten language, they began drawing facesaccurately.

"You need [intra-pattern relations] in aliterate society," Pontius says. "Otherwise you'relost."

She says the link between literacy andintra-pattern facial relations may explaindyslexia--a common reading disability--or even thehigh illiteracy rate in inner-city schools.

"Many of these children [in inner-cities] livein pervasive, consistent fear for their lives,"Pontius says. "Maybe these people, therefore,resort to sub-cortical processing."

Testing this relationship is just one of manyavenues down which her research could lead,Pontius says.

However, in a Reuters article published onMarch 1, Pontius says she has not testedinner-city children and "does not plan to."

"I don't dare do it," she says in the article."It is too dangerous."

In the future, Pontius says she hopes to studythe effects of sub-cortical processing on newbornsand on patients suffering from brain-damage orAlzheimer's disease