title: Neurocognitive mechanisms of individual differences in face cognition: a replication and extension.
abstract: Face cognition performance is related to individual differences in cognitive subprocesses, as reflected in the amplitudes and latencies of event-related brain potentials (ERPs; Herzmann, Kunina, Sommer, & Wilhelm, 2010). In order to replicate and extend these findings, 110 participants were tested on a comprehensive task battery measuring face cognition abilities and established cognitive abilities, followed by ERP recordings in a face-learning-and-recognition task. We replicated the links of the ERP components indicating the speed of structural face encoding (N170 latency) and access to structural representations in memory (early repetition effect [ERE]/N250r) with the accuracy and speed of face cognition and with established cognitive abilities. As a novel result, we differentiated between the accuracy of face perception and face memory on the behavioral and electrophysiological levels and report a relationship between basic visual processes (P100 amplitude) and face memory. Moreover, the brain-behavior relationships for the ERE/N250r held true, even though we eliminated pictorial and perceptual structural codes from the priming effects by using backward masking of the primes with novel unfamiliar faces. On a methodological level, we demonstrated the utility of the latent difference score modeling technique to parameterize ERP difference components (e.g., ERE/N250r) on a latent level and link them to face cognition abilities.
authors.affiliation: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Psychologie, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany, laura.kaltwasser@hu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kaltwasser
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hildebrandt
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Recio
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sommer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult