title: Associative priming in faces: semantic relatedness or simple co-occurrence?
abstract: In two experiments, we explored the effects of co-occurrence and semantic relationships in the associative priming of faces. In Experiment 1, pairs of computer-generated human faces were presented simultaneously (i.e., they co-occurred) with no associated semantic information attached to them. A significant facilitation effect in the subsequent recognition of these paired faces (priming) was observed. Thus, repeatedly presenting faces together while keeping semantic information to a minimum appears to be enough to produce associative priming. In Experiment 2, the computer-generated faces were associated with semantic information and again presented ipairs. Priming effects arising from co-occurrence and semantic relatedness were observed. The results from these experiments show that semantic relatedness is not the sole cause of the association between faces; co-occurrence plays a crucial role too. This conclusion has significant implications for the current computational models of face processing.
authors.affiliation: Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales.
authors.forename: Matei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vladeanu
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Hadyn
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D012718:Set, Psychology