Face-specific configural processing of relational information.

Author(s)
Helmut Leder, Claus-Christian Carbon
Abstract

Face processing relies on configural processing, which is thought to be particularly

disrupted by inversion. We compared inversion effects in recognition experiments for

three types of stimuli, using faces (Experiment 1) and houses (Experiment 2). Stimuli

varied by their colour only (colour), by the spatial relations between components

(relational ), or by the components themselves (eyes, mouths, doors). For faces, relational

versions revealed strong inversion effects, component versions moderate, and colour

versions no inversion effect. Recognition of houses revealed no inversion effects at all.

We suggest that the inversion effects observed for faces in the component condition are

due to relational changes, which must accompany any change in components. This

proposal may account for the rather inconsistent effects of inversion reported in

the literature. Furthermore, we suggest configural processing seems to be somehow

face-specific.

Organisation(s)
Journal
British Journal of Psychology
Volume
97
Pages
19-29
No. of pages
11
ISSN
0007-1269
Publication date
2006
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
501011 Cognitive psychology
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/facespecific-configural-processing-of-relational-information(bf83050b-002b-483f-a1f0-8061880ce76b).html