Recognizing faces in and out of context (original) (raw)
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Memory for faces: the effect of facial appearance and the context in which the face is encountered
Psychological Research, 2014
We investigated the effects of appearance of emotionally neutral faces and the context in which the faces are encountered on incidental face memory. To approximate real-life situations as closely as possible, faces were embedded in a newspaper article, with a headline that specified an action performed by the person pictured. We found that facial appearance affected memory so that faces perceived as trustworthy or untrustworthy were remembered better than neutral ones. Furthermore, the memory of untrustworthy faces was slightly better than that of trustworthy faces. The emotional context of encoding affected the details of face memory. Faces encountered in a neutral context were more likely to be recognized as only familiar. In contrast, emotionally relevant contexts of encoding, whether pleasant or unpleasant, increased the likelihood of remembering semantic and even episodic details associated with faces. These findings suggest that facial appearance (i.e., perceived trustworthiness) affects face memory. Moreover, the findings support prior evidence that the engagement of emotion processing during memory encoding increases the likelihood that events are not only recognized but also remembered.
Consciousness and cognition, 2001
A common view in face recognition research holds that there is a stored representation specific to each known face. It is also posited that semantic or memory-based information cannot influence low-level face processing. The two experiments reported in this article investigate the nature of this representation and the flow of face information processing. Participants had to search for a particular primed face among other faces. In Experiment 1, the search was done in a context where distractors had either a different degree of fame or the same degree of fame. In Experiment 2, the target face was primed either with semantic information or without any information. Both experiments demonstrated that increasing the display set size lengthened face detection time. However, the lengthening was a function of face fame. The search context also had an effect on the slope of the famous face detection. The results are explained in terms of the idea that face representations are reconstructed and that high-and low-level information are integrated into the processing. The integration process is not a conscious one.
Conceptual processes involved in words and scenes context effect in face recognition
Memory
Several studies have established the impact of conceptually similar context on the emergence of "Context-Effect" (CE). None of these studies included the Re-pair/rearrange condition at the test, which prevented them from being conclusive about the exact process (binding/ensemble or familiarity) that was affected by the conceptually similar context. To this end, in the present study faces (target to be remembered) were presented in the context of either words (W) or picture (P) scenes, and at test Repair was added as one of the context conditions. At test two groups were presented with the same context as in study (consistent condition) (WW & PP), and two groups with the inconsistent condition (WP & PW). Results showed no familiarity effect when only the conceptual match was preserved (i.e., inconsistent condition) and both effects of binding and familiarity when both conceptual and perceptual match were present (i.e., consistent condition). Thus, the semantic association between a face and context could serve as recognition cues even when modality has been changed, but the label remained constant.
Facial Memory: The Role of the Pre-Existing Knowledge in Face Processing and Recognition
Faces are visual stimuli full of information. Depending upon the familiarity with a face, the information we can extract will differ, so the more familiarity with a face, the more information that can be extracted from it. The present article reviews the role that pre-existing knowledge of a face has in its processing. Here, we focus on behavioral, electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence. The influence of familiarity in early stages (attention, perception and working memory) and in later stages (pre-semantic and semantic knowledge) of the processing are discussed. The differences in brain anatomy for familiar and unfamiliar faces are also considered. As it will be shown, experimental data seems to support that familiarity can affect even the earliest stages of the recognition.
Individual differences in recognition memory for faces
1994
Contemporary research on human memory has tended to disregard individual differences (Eysenck, 1977, 1983; Sternberg & French, 1990). However, there seems to be no empirical justification for this practice, especially in experimental situations where the stimuli that are used are 'socially relevant'. Human faces constitute one such category. Although there is strong evidence which suggests that people differ substantially in their ability to recognise faces in laboratory experiments (Baddeley & Woodhead, 1983) and in everyday situations (Schweich, van der Linden, Bredart, Bruyer, Neils & Schills, 1991), the sources of these differences are not clearly understood at present. In this thesis, individual differences in recognition memory for faces were examined using standard laboratory experimental techniques. Part I of this thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One provides a general introduction to face recognition research. In Chapter Two, past research on individual dif...
The relations between facial features, facial impression, and recognition memory for faces
The Japanese Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 2004
The present study investigated relationships among physical features, impressions, and recognition memory for faces. The stimuli were pictures of male and female faces. First, the sizes, lengths, and angles of physical features of the faces were measured, and then a principal components analysis was performed. Second, 108 university students evaluated the impressions of the faces by the semantic differential technique, and then a factor analysis was performed. Third, 80 university students performed recognition memory tasks for the faces. Subsequently, the analyses of correlations, partial correlations, and ANOVA were performed on the principal component scores of the physical features, the factor scores of impressions, and the recognition performance. The results of the analyses showed that: (a) the impression of facial uniqueness formed from eyes and eyebrows facilitated recognition memory for the faces and (b) the physical features of a small mouth and a round jaw facilitated recognition memory.
Why It’s Easier to Remember Seeing a Face We Already Know Than One We Don’t
Psychological Science, 2013
In two experiments, we provided support for the hypothesis that stimuli with preexisting memory representations (e.g., famous faces) are easier to associate to their encoding context than are stimuli that lack long-term memory representations (e.g., unknown faces). Subjects viewed faces superimposed on different backgrounds (e.g., the Eiffel Tower). Face recognition on a surprise memory test was better when the encoding background was reinstated than when it was swapped with a different background; however, the reinstatement advantage was modulated by how many faces had been seen with a given background, and reinstatement did not improve recognition for unknown faces. The follow-up experiment added a drug intervention that inhibited the ability to form new associations. Context reinstatement did not improve recognition for famous or unknown faces under the influence of the drug. The results suggest that it is easier to associate context to faces that have a preexisting long-term mem...
Memory processes in facial recognition and recall
Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1978
The encoding processes of recognition and recall for line-drawn faces were investigated. Subjects randomly received three-alternative forced-choice tests of recognition and probe recall of 20 male faces. Between each inspection and test, subjects performed an interference task for 10 sec. The interference tasks consisted of either identifying the missing facial feature in line drawings or in photographs, or correctly identifying the misspelled words describing different facial features. The results indicate that recognition performance was higher than proberecall performance for all groups. The analysis of the recognition data suggests that recognition ability decreased as the similarity of the interference task to the target increased. This finding suggests that faces are encoded using visual rather than verbal imagery.