Effect of Vertical Stretching on the Extraction of Mean Identity From Faces. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bagaïni, Alexandra; Hole, Graham
• Is Part Of: Perception. Volume 46:Number 9(2017)
• Page Start: 1048
• Page End: 1061
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: set averaging -- ensemble coding -- face recognition -- vertical stretching; Perception -- Periodicals; Perception -- Periodicals; Perception; Periodicals; 153.705
• DOI: 10.1177/0301006617701160
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-0066

Abstract

Observers can extract the mean identity from a set of faces and falsely recognise it as a genuine set member. The current experiment demonstrated that this 'perceptual averaging' also occurs with vertically stretched faces. On each trial, participants decided whether a target face was present in a preceding set of four faces. In the control condition, the faces were all normally proportioned; in the stretched set condition, the face sets were stretched but the targets were normal; and in the stretched target condition, the face sets were normal but the targets were stretched. In all three conditions, participants falsely identified the set mean as a face that had been presented within the set, implying that this identity-averaging effect is based on high-level identity information rather than the low-level physical characteristics of the face stimuli.