The entry point of face recognition: evidence for face expertise

Previous studies have shown that experts (e.g., birdwatchers) are as fast to recognize objects at subordinate levels of abstraction (e.g., robin) as they are to recognize the same object at the basic level (e.g., bird). As a test of face expertise, the current study found that adults identify faces...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of experimental psychology. General Vol. 130; no. 3; p. 534
Main Author Tanaka, J W
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.09.2001
Subjects
Adult
Attention
Discrimination Learning
Face
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Recall
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Practice (Psychology)
Psychophysics
Reaction Time
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Summary:Previous studies have shown that experts (e.g., birdwatchers) are as fast to recognize objects at subordinate levels of abstraction (e.g., robin) as they are to recognize the same object at the basic level (e.g., bird). As a test of face expertise, the current study found that adults identify faces more frequently (Experiment 1) and as quickly (Experiment 2) at the subordinate level (e.g., Bill Clinton) as at the basic level (e.g., human). Whereas brief presentation (75 ms) impaired subordinate-level recognition of nonface objects, it did not impair the subordinate level recognition of faces (Experiment 3). Finally, in an identity-matching task, subordinate-level primes facilitated the matching responses of faces but not nonface objects (Experiment 4). Collectively, these results indicate that face expertise, like expert object expertise, promotes a downward shift in recognition to more subordinate levels of abstraction.
ISSN:0096-3445
1939-2222
DOI:10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.534