When context hinders! Learn-test compatibility in face recognition.
Some theories of holistic face processing propose that parts in faces (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) are not explicitly represented. So far, the empirical evidence has shown that whole-to-part superiority is found when wholes are learned. We substantiated this using photographic faces. More importantly, we investigated whether learning parts also reveals holistic effects. This has not been attempted before. Four experiments showed that after learning facial parts, recognition of these parts was disrupted when the part was shown in the full face. This distraction effect was strongest when perceivers were not directed to focus on a particular facial feature. Thus, it is very difficult to ignore irrelevant parts in faces. In fact, this might be the essence of holistic face processing.
Leder
Helmut
H
Department of Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. leder@experimental-psychology.de
Carbon
Claus-Christian
CC
D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving