Abstract
We have found that a picture of a face is more easily detected than is a pattern of arbitrarily rearranged facial features. An upright face is also more detectable than an inverted face. Using two-alternative forced-choice visual masking paradigms, we have found that this face-detection effect (FDE) can be produced with line drawings and with photocopies of a picture of a face. Our results suggest that a face, as an organized, meaningful pattern, is a more potent stimulus than an arbitrary assemblage of the same visual features. It may be that the FDE is a visual configuration effect. Previous visual configuration effects have been documented only with recognition responses. The FDE, by contrast, documents a configuration effect that affects the detectability of a stimulus.
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Research sponsored by an Oakland University Faculty Research Grant.
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Purcell, D.G., Stewart, A.L. The face-detection effect: Configuration enhances detection. Perception & Psychophysics 43, 355–366 (1988). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208806
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208806