OPPOSITE VISUAL HEMIFIELD SUPERIORITIES IN FACE RECOGNITION AS A FUNCTION OF COGNITIVE STYLE*

Configural processing has been considered the major contributor to the face inversion effect (FIE) in face recognition. However, most researchers have only obtained the FIE with one specific ratio of configural alteration. It remains unclear whether the ratio of configural alteration itself can mediate the occurrence of the FIE. We aimed to clarify this issue by manipulating the configural information parametrically using six different ratios, ranging from 4% to 24%. Participants were asked to judge whether a pair of faces were entirely identical or different. The paired faces that were to be compared were presented either simultaneously (Experiment 1) or sequentially (Experiment 2). Both experiments revealed that the FIE was observed only when the ratio of configural alteration was in the intermediate range. These results indicate that even though the FIE has been frequently adopted as an index to examine the underlying mechanism of face processing, the emergence of the FIE is not robust with any configural alteration but dependent on the ratio of configural alteration.

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Right-Hemisphere Specialization for Contour Grouping

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000252 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 61 (5) ◽

pp. 331-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gregor Volberg

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Contour Detection ◽

Global Processing ◽

Detection Accuracy ◽

Frequency Spectra ◽

Visual Hemifield ◽

Spatial Frequencies ◽

A Chain ◽

The Right ◽

Hemisphere Specialization

Previous studies often revealed a right-hemisphere specialization for processing the global level of compound visual stimuli. Here we explore whether a similar specialization exists for the detection of intersected contours defined by a chain of local elements. Subjects were presented with arrays of randomly oriented Gabor patches that could contain a global path of collinearly arranged elements in the left or in the right visual hemifield. As expected, the detection accuracy was higher for contours presented to the left visual field/right hemisphere. This difference was absent in two control conditions where the smoothness of the contour was decreased. The results demonstrate that the contour detection, often considered to be driven by lateral coactivation in primary visual cortex, relies on higher-level visual representations that differ between the hemispheres. Furthermore, because contour and non-contour stimuli had the same spatial frequency spectra, the results challenge the view that the right-hemisphere advantage in global processing depends on a specialization for processing low spatial frequencies.

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Perceptual Effects and Recollective Experience in Face Recognition

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169.52.3.224 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 52 (3) ◽

pp. 224-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Chrisanthi Nega

Keyword(s):

Face Recognition ◽

Recognition Memory ◽

Congruency Effect ◽

Facial Recognition ◽

Memory Systems ◽

Study Time ◽

Perceptual Fluency ◽

Recollective Experience ◽

Trace Strength ◽

Size Congruency

Abstract. Four experiments were conducted investigating the effect of size congruency on facial recognition memory, measured by remember, know and guess responses. Different study times were employed, that is extremely short (300 and 700 ms), short (1,000 ms), and long times (5,000 ms). With the short study time (1,000 ms) size congruency occurred in knowing. With the long study time the effect of size congruency occurred in remembering. These results support the distinctiveness/fluency account of remembering and knowing as well as the memory systems account, since the size congruency effect that occurred in knowing under conditions that facilitated perceptual fluency also occurred independently in remembering under conditions that facilitated elaborative encoding. They do not support the idea that remember and know responses reflect differences in trace strength.

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