title: A contextual effect of 2nd-order configural processing of non-face objects by non-experts.
abstract: We investigated here the detection of 2nd-order configural relations both in faces and in non-face objects. In experiment 1 it was shown that observers were more sensitive to feature displacements in upright faces and houses than in inverted faces and houses. The presence of an inversion effect in the house stimuli suggested that 2nd-order relational processing was applied to the non-face stimuli. In experiment 2, the inversion effect for houses was absent when only houses were presented. In experiment 3, face and house stimuli were once again presented in the same task and inversion effects were again seen for both types of stimuli. Together, these results suggest that 2nd-order relational processing can be flexibly applied to non-face objects when they are presented in the context of faces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology/Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada. heathmatheson@dal.ca
authors.forename: Heath E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Matheson
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McMullen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult