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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Quoc Vuong
The fact that faces are strongly affected by picture-plane inversion has often been cited as evidence for face-specific mechanisms. It is unclear, however, whether this “face inversion effect” is driven by properties shared by faces or whether the effect is specific to faces as a category. To address this issue, we compared the recognition of faces and novel Greebles, which were specifically matched to faces along various stimulus dimensions. In two experiments, participants were required to name individual faces or Greebles following training at either single or multiple orientations. We found that performance systematically decreased with increasing misorientation from either the upright (Experiment 1) or nearest trained orientation (Experiment 2). Importantly, the magnitude of this orientation effect was similar for both faces and Greebles. Taken together, these results suggest that the face inversion effect may be a consequence of the visual homogeneity of the stimulus category, regardless of the category.
Author(s): Ashworth ARS, Vuong QC, Rossion B, Tarr MJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Visual Cognition
Year: 2008
Volume: 16
Issue: 6
Pages: 754-784
Print publication date: 01/08/2008
ISSN (print): 1350-6285
ISSN (electronic): 1464-0716
Publisher: Psychology Press
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13506280701381741
DOI: 10.1080/13506280701381741
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