Recognising Familiar Faces Out of Context. (February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Laurence, Sarah; Eyre, Jordyn; Strathie, Ailsa
• Is Part Of: Perception. Volume 50:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 174
• Page End: 177
• Publication Date: 2021-02
• Subjects: face perception -- familiar faces -- personal familiarity -- context; Perception -- Periodicals; Perception -- Periodicals; Perception; Periodicals; 153.705
• DOI: 10.1177/0301006620984326
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-0066

Abstract

Expertise in familiar face recognition has been well-documented in several studies. Here, we examined the role of context using a surprise lecturer recognition test. Across two experiments, we found few students recognised their lecturer when they were unexpected, but accuracy was higher when the lecturer was preceded by a prompt. Our findings suggest that familiar face recognition can be poor in unexpected contexts.