The influence of attention on holistic face encoding.

Full Abstract

We examined the influence of attention on the formation of holistic face representations using the composite effect (Perception 16 (1987) 747). In Experiment 1, stimuli composed of a face superimposed on a house were shown during encoding. Subjects delineated either the face or the house, thus manipulating attention away or toward the face. In Experiment 2, an intact face image was presented with letters scrolling from top to bottom. Subjects were asked to either ignore the letters or read them and decipher the words that they formed. Aligned and misaligned composites were shown at testing. Recognition performance was consistently better for misaligned than aligned stimuli, regardless of the allocation of attention during encoding. In Experiment 3, we show that the composite effect can be eliminated by a disruption in holistic processing at the time of encoding. We conclude that holistic encoding is one aspect of face analysis that occurs equally well with or without attention.

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Author information

Author/s: Boutet, Isabelle (I); Gentes-Hawn, Alyson (A); Chaudhuri, Avi (A);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada. isabou(-atsign-)ego.psych.mcgill.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Cognition (Cognition), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Jul; vol 84 (issue 3) : pp 321-41

Dates: Created 2002/06/04; Completed 2002/09/17; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12044738, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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