Field dependence and facial recognition.
29 male and 28 female undergraduates were administered two measures of Witkin's field-dependence dimension--the Portable Rod-and-frame Test and the Group Embedded-figures Test--and a test of facial recognition. Field-independent males were significantly more accurate in the recognition of photographed human faces than field-dependent males. Field-independent females were also more accurate than field-dependent females, although the relation was nonsignificant. While it has often been claimed that field-dependent individuals remember faces better, the results of the present study, as well as others which have examined this relationship, support the opposite conclusion.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D012737:Sex Factors; D014796:Visual Perception