I'd say (out of experience) that people do not recognize objects by visualizing their skeletons, but they recognize objects by a generalization of their shape.
In case of recognizing other animals, the generalization takes the form of a 'tree' of objects connected via nodes, which is actually what a skeleton does to a body.
But that does not happen with other objects, i.e. cars. For cars, the generalization is that of a box with circles at the bottom (for the wheels).
It shall also have to be noted that the details of objects are not really lost, but they are remembered, up to a certain degree, which allows us to recognize a person with fat body parts from a person with thin body parts of the same height and otherwise same general outlook.
The degree of generalization is also responsible for not being able to remember a new face that strongly resembles a face we already know, until we recognize for the new face some special attributes the old face does not have. In this case, the degree if generalizaton is such that does not allow us to immediately tell apart the old from the new face.
I'd say that recognition works in a step like fashion:
-we first recognize a generic abstraction of the object at hand: if the object is inanimate or not.
-then we recognize in which category of the inanimate or living objects the object under recognition is (for example, is it a human? an animal? etc).
-then we recognize more details; is the person tall, fat or blond? for example.
-then we recall our connections to that person, resulting in chosing a response.
I don't have data to back the above up, it's all from intuition and personal experience, but that's how I think objects are recognized by brains.
In case of recognizing other animals, the generalization takes the form of a 'tree' of objects connected via nodes, which is actually what a skeleton does to a body.
But that does not happen with other objects, i.e. cars. For cars, the generalization is that of a box with circles at the bottom (for the wheels).
It shall also have to be noted that the details of objects are not really lost, but they are remembered, up to a certain degree, which allows us to recognize a person with fat body parts from a person with thin body parts of the same height and otherwise same general outlook.
The degree of generalization is also responsible for not being able to remember a new face that strongly resembles a face we already know, until we recognize for the new face some special attributes the old face does not have. In this case, the degree if generalizaton is such that does not allow us to immediately tell apart the old from the new face.
I'd say that recognition works in a step like fashion:
-we first recognize a generic abstraction of the object at hand: if the object is inanimate or not.
-then we recognize in which category of the inanimate or living objects the object under recognition is (for example, is it a human? an animal? etc).
-then we recognize more details; is the person tall, fat or blond? for example.
-then we recall our connections to that person, resulting in chosing a response.
I don't have data to back the above up, it's all from intuition and personal experience, but that's how I think objects are recognized by brains.