A common view in face recognition research holds that there is a stored representation specific to each known face. It is also posited that semantic or memory-based information cannot influence low-level face processing. The two experiments reported in this article investigate the nature of this representation and the flow of face information processing. Participants had to search for a particular primed face among other faces. In Experiment 1, the search was done in a context where distractors had either a different (...) degree of fame or the same degree of fame. In Experiment 2, the target face was primed either with semantic information or without any information. Both experiments demonstrated that increasing the display set size lengthened face detection time. However, the lengthening was a function of face fame. The search context also had an effect on the slope of the famous face detection. The results are explained in terms of the idea that face representations are reconstructed and that high- and low-level information are integrated into the processing. The integration process is not a conscious one. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between accessing the identity of a face and making decisions about its expression. Three experiments are reported in which undergraduate subjects made expression decisions about familiar and unfamiliar faces. The decision was slowed either by concealing the mouth region with a black rectangle or by using a short presentation time. Results of experiment 1 showed that subjects recognized the displayed expression of celebrities better than those of unknown persons when information (...) from the mouth was not available. Results of experiment 2 showed that they recognized the expression displayed by celebrities more easily when the presentation time was short. Experiment 3, using familiarized faces, replicated the results of experiments 1 and 2 and ruled out a possible explanation of these results by the use of some identity specific representations that are expressive. Implications for face recognition models are discussed. (shrink)