What's in a "face file"? Feature binding with facial identity, emotion, and gaze direction.
A series of four experiments investigated the binding of facial (i.e., facial identity, emotion, and gaze direction) and non-facial (i.e., spatial location and response location) attributes. Evidence for the creation and retrieval of temporary memory face structures across perception and action has been adduced. These episodic structures-dubbed herein "face files"-consisted of both visuo-visuo and visuo-motor bindings. Feature binding was indicated by partial-repetition costs. That is repeating a combination of facial features or altering them altogether, led to faster responses than repeating or alternating only one of the features. Taken together, the results indicate that: (a) "face files" affect both action and perception mechanisms, (b) binding can take place with facial dimensions and is not restricted to low-level features (Hommel, Visual Cognition 5:183-216, 1998), and (c) the binding of facial and non-facial attributes is facilitated if the dimensions share common spatial or motor codes. The theoretical contributions of these results to "person construal" theories (Freeman, & Ambady, Psychological Science, 20(10), 1183-1188, 2011), as well as to face recognition models (Haxby, Hoffman, & Gobbini, Biological Psychiatry, 51(1), 59-67, 2000) are discussed.
Department of Behavioral Sciences, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel. danielfi@ariel.ac.il.
Daniel
D
Fitousi
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged