Internal feature saliency as a marker of familiarity and configural processing

Abstract

Two experiments are reported which explore the internal feature advantage (IFA) in familiar face processing. The IFA involves more efficient processing of internal features for familiar faces over unfamiliar ones. Experiment 1 examined the possibility of a holistic basis for this effect through use of a matching task for familiar and unfamiliar faces presented both upright and upside-down. Results revealed the predicted IFA for familiar faces when stimuli were upright, but this was removed when stimuli were inverted. Experiment 2 examined the degree of training required before the IFA was demonstrated. Latency results revealed that whilst 90-180 seconds of exposure was sufficient to generate an IFA of intermediate magnitude, 180-270 seconds of exposure was required before the IFA was equivalent to that demonstrated for a familiar face. Taken together, these results offer three conclusions: first, the IFA is reaffirmed as an objective indicator of familiarity; second, the IFA is seen to rest on holistic processing; and finally, the development of the IFA with familiarity indicates a development of holistic processing with familiarity. As such, insight is gained as to the type of processing changes that occur as familiarity is gradually acquired.

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ORCID for S.V. Stevenage: orcid.org/0000-0003-4155-2939

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