title: Meet The Simpsons: top-down effects in face learning.
abstract: We examined whether prior knowledge of a person affects the visual processes involved in learning a face. In two experiments, subjects were taught to associate human faces with characters they knew (from the TV show The Simpsons) or characters they did not (novel names). In each experiment, knowledge of the character predicted performance in a recognition memory test, relying only on old/new confidence ratings. In experiment 1, we established the technique and showed that there is a face-learning advantage for known people, even when face items are counterbalanced for familiarity across the experiment. In experiment 2 we replicated the effect in a setting which discouraged subjects from attending more to known than unknown people, and eliminated any visual association between face stimuli and a character from The Simpsons. We conclude that prior knowledge about a person can enhance learning of a new face.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bonner
authors.forename: A Mike
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McNeill
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vicki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011601:Psychophysics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*