title: Dominance of texture over shape in facial identity processing is modulated by individual abilities.
abstract: For face recognition, observers utilize both shape and texture information. Here, we investigated the relative diagnosticity of shape and texture for delayed matching of familiar and unfamiliar faces (Experiment 1) and identifying familiar and newly learned faces (Experiment 2). Within each familiarity condition, pairs of 3D-captured faces were morphed selectively in either shape or texture in 20% steps, holding the respective other dimension constant. We also assessed participants' individual face-processing skills via the Bielefelder Famous Faces Test (BFFT), the Glasgow Face Matching Test, and the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). Using multilevel model analyses, we examined probabilities of same versus different responses (Experiment 1) and of original identity versus other/unknown identity responses (Experiment 2). Overall, texture was more diagnostic than shape for both delayed matching and identification, particularly so for familiar faces. On top of these overall effects, above-average BFFT performance was associated with enhanced utilization of texture in both experiments. Furthermore, above-average CFMT performance coincided with slightly reduced texture dominance in the delayed matching task (Experiment 1) and stronger sensitivity to morph-based changes overall, that is irrespective of morph type, in the face identification task (Experiment 2). Our findings (1) show the disproportionate importance of texture information for processing familiar face identity and (2) provide further evidence that familiar and unfamiliar face identity perception are mediated by different underlying processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Marlena L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Itz
authors.affiliation: Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jessika
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Golle
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luttmann
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.|DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Schweinberger
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.|DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: delayed face matching; face identification; individual differences; shape; texture