title: The hows and whys of face processing: Level of construal influences the holistic processing of human faces.
abstract: Face recognition and identification are optimized by holistic processing. Various visual-spatial manipulations appear to have transfer effects on holistic face processing. The present experiment tests the effects of a semantic manipulation--of construal level--on holistic processing as measured by composite congruency effects. Participants completed two blocks of trials. The first served as a baseline, whereas the second included a manipulation of construal level. High-level construal resulted in stronger congruency effects, indicative of greater holistic processing (relative to baseline and to low-level construal). These results have implications for conceptualizations of both construal level and holistic processing.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Natalie A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Wyer
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hollins
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pahl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics