Familiarity effects on categorization levels of faces and objects

Consciousness and cognition, 2001

A common view in face recognition research holds that there is a stored representation specific to each known face. It is also posited that semantic or memory-based information cannot influence low-level face processing. The two experiments reported in this article investigate the nature of this representation and the flow of face information processing. Participants had to search for a particular primed face among other faces. In Experiment 1, the search was done in a context where distractors had either a different degree of fame or the same degree of fame. In Experiment 2, the target face was primed either with semantic information or without any information. Both experiments demonstrated that increasing the display set size lengthened face detection time. However, the lengthening was a function of face fame. The search context also had an effect on the slope of the famous face detection. The results are explained in terms of the idea that face representations are reconstructed and that high-and low-level information are integrated into the processing. The integration process is not a conscious one.

Visual Cognition, 2007

Five experiments investigated identification and discrimination of faces. Stimuli were blends of two faces generated with a morphing algorithm. Two same-gender and two different-gender pairs of faces were tested. Experiment 1 (identification) estimated the point of indifference along the morphing sequence, and the associated differential threshold. Experiment 2 (discrimination, ABX) demonstrated that novel faces are perceived categorically. Identity was a more important factor than gender in generating the perceptual categories. Experiment 3 and 4 (identification) demonstrated that categories are generated progressively in the course of the experiment and depend on the range of morphs tested in any one condition. Confidence ratings (Experiment 5) showed that the multidimensional space where faces are represented can be collapsed onto a single dimension. Response probabilities and response times for Experiments 1 Á4 were predicted simultaneously by a counting model postulating that quanta of discriminal information are

2012

In two experiments, participants were presented with a triad of morphed White and Hispanic faces paired with pseudoword labels. The meanings of these labels were manipulated to represent categorical information about the face. Labels were said to represent either the person's belief, the food s/he ate, the disease s/he had, or the person's last name. The results indicated that categorical information affects our judgments of faces. Information categories such as belief, food, and diseases were particularly strong in modifying the participants' similarity judgment of faces, whereas information characterized with last names of faces were least powerful. Previous research focuses on race face perception being affected primarily by racial indicators or racial information. Our results provide that how we perceptually analyze faces is not confined to obvious racial cues, but by non-racial semantic information as well, suggesting that category-relevant information by itself provides a strong basis for inductive generalization.

Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2008

The conditions under which categorical perception (CP) occurs for unfamiliar faces are unclear. Although CP is generally found only for familiar faces, it has been reported for unfamiliar faces after brief training (Levin & Beale, 2000) or even without any learning of the original faces (Campanella, Hanoteau, Seron, Joassin, & Bruyer, 2003). Three experiments investigated whether CP can be observed for an unfamiliar morphed face continuum without preexposure to the endpoints of the continuum (Experiment 1); with brief exposure to the ...

Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2009

We demonstrate that a familiar-looking feature can influence categorization through two different routes, depending on whether a person is reliant on abstract feature representations or on concrete feature representations. In two experiments, trained participants categorized new category members in a three-step procedure: Participants made an initial categorization, described the rule-consistent features indicated by the experimenter, and then re-categorized the item. Critical was what happened on the second categorization after participants initially categorized an item based on a familiar, but misleading, feature. Participants reliant on abstract features most commonly reversed themselves after the rule-consistent features were pointed out, suggesting the familiar feature had biased attention. Participants reliant on concrete feature representations, however, most commonly persisted with the initial response as if the familiar feature were more important than its rivals-the familiar feature biased decision-making.

Psihologija, 2009

Early processing stages in the perception of familiar and unfamiliar faces were studied in four experiments by varying the type of available facial information in a four alternative forced choice recognition task. Both reaction time and recognition accuracy served as dependent measures. The observed data revealed an asymmetry in processing familiar and unfamiliar faces. A markedly weak inversion effect and strong blurring effect suggest a limited usage of spatial relations within early processing stages of unfamiliar faces. Recognition performance for whole familiar faces did not deteriorate due to blurring or the presentation of isolated internal features, suggesting a low level of representation for featural properties of familiar faces. Based on the data we propose that recognition of familiar faces relies much more on spatial relations among features, particularly internal features, than on featural characteristics. In contrast, recognition of unfamiliar faces resorts mainly to featural information.

2007

Background Previous studies have explored the effects of familiarity on various kinds of visual face judgments, yet the role of familiarity in face processing is not fully understood. Across different face judgments and stimulus sets, the data is equivocal as to whether or not familiarity impacts recognition processes.

Faces are visual stimuli full of information. Depending upon the familiarity with a face, the information we can extract will differ, so the more familiarity with a face, the more information that can be extracted from it. The present article reviews the role that pre-existing knowledge of a face has in its processing. Here, we focus on behavioral, electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence. The influence of familiarity in early stages (attention, perception and working memory) and in later stages (pre-semantic and semantic knowledge) of the processing are discussed. The differences in brain anatomy for familiar and unfamiliar faces are also considered. As it will be shown, experimental data seems to support that familiarity can affect even the earliest stages of the recognition.

Memory & Cognition, 1992

Cognition, 2017

Verifying that a face is from a target person (e.g. finding someone in the crowd) is a critical ability of the human face processing system. Yet how fast this can be performed is unknown. The 'entry-level shift due to expertise' hypothesis suggests that-since humans are face experts-processing faces should be as fast-or even faster-at the individual than at superordinate levels. In contrast, the 'superordinate advantage' hypothesis suggests that faces are processed from coarse to fine, so that the opposite pattern should be observed. To clarify this debate, three different face processing levels were compared: (1) a superordinate face categorization level (i.e. detecting human faces among animal faces), (2) a face familiarity level (i.e. recognizing famous faces among unfamiliar ones) and (3) verifying that a face is from a target person, our condition of interest. The minimal speed at which faces can be categorized ($260 ms) or recognized as familiar ($360 ms) has largely been documented in previous studies, and thus provides boundaries to compare our condition of interest to. Twenty-seven participants were included. The recent Speed and Accuracy Boosting procedure paradigm (SAB) was used since it constrains participants to use their fastest strategy. Stimuli were presented either upright or inverted. Results revealed that verifying that a face is from a target person (minimal RT at $260 ms) was remarkably fast but longer than the face categorization level ($240 ms) and was more sensitive to face inversion. In contrast, it was much faster than recognizing a face as familiar ($380 ms), a level severely affected by face inversion. Face recognition corresponding to finding a specific person in a crowd thus appears achievable in only a quarter of a second. In favor of the 'superordinate advantage' hypothesis or coarse-to-fine account of the face visual hierarchy, these results suggest a graded engagement of the face processing system across processing levels as reflected by the face inversion effects. Furthermore, they underline how verifying that a face is from a target person and detecting a face as familiar-both often referred to as ''Face Recognition"-in fact differs.