Familiarity effects on categorization levels of faces and objects

It is well established that faces, in contrast to objects, are categorized as fast or faster at the individual level (e.g., Bill Clinton) than at the basic-level (e.g., human face). This subordinate-shift from basic-level categorization has been considered an outcome of visual expertise with processing faces. However, in the present study we found that, similar to familiar faces, categorization of individually-known familiar towers is also faster at the individual level than at the basic-level in naïve participants. In addition, category-verification of familiar stimuli, at basic and superordinate levels, was slower and less accurate compared to unfamiliar stimuli. Thus, the existence of detailed semantic information, regardless of expertise, can induce a shift in the default level of object categorization from basic to individual level. Moreover, the individually-specific knowledge is not only more easily-retrieved from memory but it might also interfere with accessing more general category information.     

Memory for frequency of hearing popular songs

In two experiments college students were asked to provide situational frequency estimates of 10-s excerpts from rock songs. In both experiments familiarity of the musical selections heard one, two, three, or four times was varied. In Experiment 2 the nature of instructions given to subjects prior to presentation of the musical excerpts was also manipulated. Across both experiments subjects' estimates were less accurate for unfamiliar than for familiar rock music. In Experiment 2 instructions to remember frequency, as well as general memory instructions, resulted in better memory for presentation frequency than did instructions to "ignore" music while working on math problems. Memory for situational frequency was also related to knowledge of rock music as defined by subjects' ability to identify the titles and artists of the presented songs. The present pattern of results with popular music is viewed as similar to that obtained in experiments investigating memory for frequency of verbal stimuli. Although providing support for an automatic processing view of frequency encoding, the results also implicate meaningful elaboration of stimuli as an important determinant of memory for frequency of events.     

干扰材料的熟悉性和认知方式对语篇阅读的影响

采用熟悉词和不熟悉词为干扰材料,考察了干扰材料的熟悉性对语篇阅读的影响.实验第一阶段要求不同认知方式被试朗读插入熟悉度不同干扰材料的短文,考查被试的阅读效率;第二阶段采用学习—自由回忆任务考查不同提示条件下在短文中使用过的干扰词和新词的学习效果.结果发现:(1)对场独立者而言,熟悉词的干扰作用明显大于不熟悉词,而对场依存者而言,熟悉词和不熟悉词的干扰作用无差异;(2)在提示条件下,被试对干扰词的回忆量大于对新词的回忆量.研究结果表明,在语篇阅读过程中,与场依存者相比,熟悉的干扰材料对场独立者的影响更大;熟悉词比不熟悉词产生更大干扰的原因可能是由于其激活了读者更多的经验,而非具有加工的优势.     

二语词汇熟悉度在双语者语义通达中的调节作用

先前很多研究表明熟练双语者可以直接通达其二语词汇的概念意义,非熟练双语者需要借助一语词汇间接通达其二语词汇的概念意义,这很可能是双语者二语词汇的熟悉度在其中发挥了调节作用。本研究使用跨语言重复启动范式考察了双语者对不同熟悉程度的二语词汇的语义通达方式。实验１以非熟练中英双语者为被试,实验２以熟练中英双语者为被试。总的结果发现,无论非熟练双语者还是熟练双语者,其在通达二语词汇概念意义时采用哪一种方式受词汇熟悉度的调节,当词汇熟悉度较高时,选择直接通达,当词汇熟悉度较低时,选择间接通达。本研究进一步支持和丰富了晚期双语者双语记忆表征中的语义通达方式从本质上属于经验性变化的观点。     

Processing of invisible stimuli: advantage of upright faces and recognizable words in overcoming interocular suppression

Familiar and recognizable stimuli enjoy an advantage of predominance during binocular rivalry, and this advantage is usually attributed to their enhanced processing during the dominant phase. However, do familiar and recognizable stimuli have an advantage in breaking suppression? Test images were gradually introduced to one eye to compete against a standard high-contrast dynamic noise pattern presented to the other eye. Results showed that an upright face took less time than an upside-down face to gain dominance against the identical suppression noise. Results also showed that for Chinese readers, Chinese characters were faster to gain dominance than Hebrew words, whereas for Hebrew readers, the reverse was true. These results suggest that familiar and recognizable information, even when suppressed and invisible, is processed differently from unfamiliar information. Apparently, high-level information about visual form does contribute to the strength of a stimulus during its suppressed phase.     

Exploring levels of face familiarity by using an indirect face-matching measure

An experiment is reported in which participants matched complete images of unfamiliar, moderately familiar, and highly familiar faces with simultaneously presented images of internal and external features. Participants had to decide if the two images depicted same or different individuals. Matches to internal features were made faster to highly familiar faces than both to moderately familiar and to unfamiliar faces, and matches to moderately familiar faces were made faster than to unfamiliar faces. For external feature matches, this advantage was only found for "different" decision matches to highly familiar faces compared to unfamiliar faces. The results indicate that the differences in familiar and unfamiliar face processing are not the result of all-or-none effects, but seem to have a graded impact on matching performance. These findings extend the earlier work of Young et al (1985 Perception 14 737-746), and we discuss the possibility of using the matching task as an indirect measure of face familiarity.     

Distinct modes of executing movement sequences: reacting, associating, and chunking

Responding to individual key-specific stimuli in entirely unfamiliar keying sequences is said to involve a reaction mode. With practice, short keying sequences can be executed in the chunking mode. This is indicated by the first stimulus sufficing for rapid execution of the entire sequence. The present study explored whether an associative mode develops also in participants who practice short keying sequences. This associative mode would involve priming by earlier events of responses to external stimuli, and is believed to be responsible for skill in the Serial Reaction Time task. In the present study participants practiced two discrete 6-key sequences. In the ensuing test phase, participants were prevented from using the chunking mode by including two deviant stimuli in most sequences. The results from the remaining - unchanged - familiar sequences confirmed that participants no longer used the chunking mode, but as predicted by associative learning these sequences were executed faster than unfamiliar sequences.     

Having shaved a kiwi fruit: Memory of unfamiliar subject-performed actions

Summary In an experiment with young and elderly adults, memory of unfamiliar actions performed by the subjects was compared with memory of actions low and high in familiarity, in order further to assess the role of a knowledge base as regards memory material encoded by enacting. Memory of similar actions encoded verbally was also assessed. The findings showed that the type of encoding, as well as familiarity, determined free-recall memory performance. The highest free-recall scores were found for familiar actions encoded by performance, in both an immediate and a delayed free-recall test. Recognition memory was also enhanced by enacting, whereas the influence of familiarity with an item upon recognition performance was limited to actions encoded verbally. The role of familiarity in recognition performance of actions encoded verbally was reversed compared with that in free recall, in that recognition of unfamiliar actions was most effective. Moreover, age-related memory deficits were found in this study. Elderly adults showed a consistently lower level of performance than younger subjects in both types of free-recall test and in the recognition test. This effect of age was found regardless of the type of encoding, demonstrating that age-related memory differences are not compensated by motor encoding. The age effect was also found regardless of familiarity with the items, and was most significant for unfamiliar actions. This demonstrates that elderly adults have particular difficulty in processing unfamiliar memory material.The experiment was conducted as part of the fulfillment of the requirements for obtaining the diploma degree of Maria Schumacher. Portions of this paper were presented at the 32nd Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen, Regensburg, April 1990.     

The speed of recognition of personally familiar faces

Despite the generally accepted notion that humans are very good and fast at recognising familiar individuals from their faces, the actual speed with which this fundamental brain function can be achieved remains largely unknown. Here, two groups of participants were required to respond by finger-lift when presented with either a photograph of a personally familiar face (classmate), or an unfamiliar one. This speeded manual go/no-go categorisation task revealed that personally familiar faces could be categorised as early as 380 ms after presentation, about 80 ms faster than unfamiliar faces. When response times were averaged across all 8 stimulus presentations, we found that minimum RTs for both familiar and unfamiliar face decisions were substantially lower (310 ms and 370 ms). Analyses confirmed that stimulus repetition enhanced the speed with which faces were categorised, irrespective of familiarity, and that repetition did not affect the observed benefit in RTS for familiar over unfamiliar faces. These data, representing the elapsed time from stimulus onset to motor output, put constraints on the time course of familiar face recognition in the human brain, which can be tracked more precisely by high temporal resolution electrophysiological measures.     

Audiovisual speech facilitates voice learning

In this research, we investigated the effects of voice and face information on the perceptual learning of talkers and on long-term memory for spoken words. In the first phase, listeners were trained over several days to identify voices from words presented auditorily or audiovisually. The training data showed that visual information about speakers enhanced voice learning, revealing cross-modal connections in talker processing akin to those observed in speech processing. In the second phase, the listeners completed an auditory or audiovisual word recognition memory test in which equal numbers of words were spoken by familiar and unfamiliar talkers. The data showed that words presented by familiar talkers were more likely to be retrieved from episodic memory, regardless of modality. Together, these findings provide new information about the representational code underlying familiar talker recognition and the role of stimulus familiarity in episodic word recognition.     

Concatenating familiar movement sequences: the versatile cognitive processor

Earlier studies demonstrated that practicing a series of key presses in a fixed order yields memory representations (i.e., motor chunks) that can be selected and used for sequence execution as if familiar key pressing sequences are single responses. In order to examine whether these motor chunks are robust in different situations and whether preparation for one sequence may overlap with execution of another one, two experiments were carried out in which participants executed two highly practiced keying sequences in rapid succession in response to two simultaneously presented stimuli. The results confirmed robustness of motor chunks, even when the sequences included only two elements, and showed that preparation (and in particular, selection) of a forthcoming sequence may occur during execution of the earlier sequence. Sequences including only two keys appeared to be slowed more by concurrent preparation than longer sequences. Together these results suggest that the execution of familiar keying sequences is predominantly carried out by a dedicated motor processor, and that the cognitive processor can be allocated to preparing a forthcoming sequence (e.g., during execution of an earlier sequence) or, some times, to selecting individual sequence elements in parallel to the motor processor.     

The hard-won benefits of familiarity in visual search: naturally familiar brand logos are found faster

Familiar items are found faster than unfamiliar ones in visual search tasks. This effect has important implications for cognitive theory, because it may reveal how mental representations of commonly encountered items are changed by experience to optimize performance. It remains unknown, however, whether everyday items with moderate levels of exposure would show benefits in visual search, and if so, what kind of experience would be required to produce them. Here, we tested whether familiar product logos were searched for faster than unfamiliar ones, and also familiarized subjects with previously unfamiliar logos. Subjects searched for preexperimentally familiar and unfamiliar logos, half of which were familiarized in the laboratory, amongst other, unfamiliar distractor logos. In three experiments, we used an N-back-like familiarization task, and in four others we used a task that asked detailed questions about the perceptual aspects of the logos. The number of familiarization exposures ranged from 30 to 84 per logo across experiments, with two experiments involving across-day familiarization. Preexperimentally familiar target logos were searched for faster than were unfamiliar, nonfamiliarized logos, by 8 % on average. This difference was reliable in all seven experiments. However, familiarization had little or no effect on search speeds; its average effect was to improve search times by 0.7 %, and its effect was significant in only one of the seven experiments. If priming, mere exposure, episodic memory, or relatively modest familiarity were responsible for familiarity’s effects on search, then performance should have improved following familiarization. Our results suggest that the search-related advantage of familiar logos does not develop easily or rapidly.     

Unfamiliar faces are not faces: Evidence from a matching task

It is difficult to match two images of the same unfamiliar face, even under good conditions. Here, we show that there are large individual differences on unfamiliar face matching. Initially, we tried to predict these using tests of visual short-term memory, cognitive style, and perceptual speed. Moderate correlations were produced by various components of these tests. In three other experiments, we found very strong correlations between face matching and inverted face matching on the same test. Finally, we examined potential associations between familiar and unfamiliar face processing. Strong correlations were found between familiar and unfamiliar face processing, but only when the familiar faces were inverted. We conclude that unfamiliar faces are processed for identity in a qualitatively different way than are familiar faces.     

Internal feature saliency as a marker of familiarity and configural processing

Two experiments that explore the internal feature advantage (IFA) in familiar face processing are reported. The IFA involves more efficient processing of internal features for familiar faces over unfamiliar ones. Experiment 1 examined the possibility of a configural basis for this effect through use of a matching task for familiar and unfamiliar faces presented both upright and upside-down. Results revealed the predicted IFA for familiar faces when stimuli were upright, but this was removed when stimuli were inverted. Experiment 2 examined the degree of training required before the IFA was demonstrated. Latency results revealed that whilst 90–180 s of exposure was sufficient to generate an IFA of intermediate magnitude, 180–270 s of exposure was required before the IFA was equivalent to that demonstrated for a familiar face. Taken together, these results offer three conclusions: First, the IFA is reaffirmed as an objective indicator of familiarity; second, the IFA is seen to rest on configural processing; and finally, the development of the IFA with familiarity indicates a development of configural processing with familiarity. As such, insight is gained as to the type of processing changes that occur as familiarity is gradually acquired.     

Distractor familiarity leads to more efficient visual search for complex stimuli

Previous reports suggest that distractor familiarity plays an important role in determining visual search efficiency. However, the specific tasks used in those studies limit the extension of their findings to real-world situations and everyday images. In the present study, subjects engaged in a prolonged period of search experience as a control of their level of familiarity with a large set of target and distractor images. Reaction times and search slopes decreased dramatically over this period, especially for trials with a large target eccentricity and many distractors. Following extended practice, search among familiar distractors was more efficient than search among unfamiliar distractors. Furthermore, we found that familiar targets were located more efficiently than unfamiliar targets and that subjects were faster at locating targets that they had experienced in the majority of the search trials. These results show that prolonged visual experience facilitates processing of both target and distractor items during search.     

The effects of talker familiarity on spoken word identification in younger and older listeners

The present study was designed to examine age differences in the ability to use voice information acquired intentionally (Experiment 1) or incidentally (Experiment 2) as an aid to spoken word identification. Following both implicit and explicit voice learning, participants were asked to identify novel words spoken either by familiar talkers (ones they had been exposed to in the training phase) or by 4 unfamiliar voices. In both experiments, explicit memory for talkers' voices was significantly lower in older than in young listeners. Despite this age-related decline in voice recognition, however, older adults exhibited equivalent, and in some cases greater, benefit than young listeners from having words spoken by familiar talkers. Implications of the findings for age-related changes in explicit versus implicit memory systems are discussed.     

Does Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Affect the Learning of a Fine Sequential Hand Motor Skill with Motor Imagery?

Learning a fine sequential hand motor skill, like playing the piano or learning to type, improves not only due to physical practice, but also due to motor imagery. Previous studies revealed that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and motor imagery independently affect motor learning. In the present study, we investigated whether tDCS combined with motor imagery above the primary motor cortex influences sequence-specific learning. Four groups of participants were involved: an anodal, cathodal, sham stimulation, and a control group (without stimulation). A modified discrete sequence production (DSP) task was employed: the Go/NoGo DSP task. After a sequence of spatial cues, a response sequence had to be either executed, imagined, or withheld. This task allows to estimate both non-specific learning and sequence-specific learning effects by comparing the execution of unfamiliar sequences, familiar imagined, familiar withheld, and familiar executed sequences in a test phase. Results showed that the effects of anodal tDCS were already developing during the practice phase, while no effects of tDCS on sequence-specific learning were visible during the test phase. Results clearly showed that motor imagery itself influences sequence learning, but we also revealed that tDCS does not increase the influence of motor imagery on sequence learning.     

Skilled memory in expert figure skaters

The present studies extend skilled-memory theory to a domain involving the performance of motor sequences. Skilled figure skaters were better able than their less skilled counterparts to perform short skating sequences that were choreographed, rather than randomly constructed. Expert skaters encoded sequences for performance very differently from the way in which they encoded sequences that were verbally presented for verbal recall. Tasks interpolated between sequence and recall showed no significant influence on recall accuracy, implicating long-term memory in skating memory. There was little evidence for the use of retrieval structures when skaters learned the brief sequences used throughout these studies. Finally, expert skaters were able to judge the similarity of two skating elements faster than less skilled skaters, indicating a faster access to semantic memory for experts. The data indicate that skaters show many of the same skilled-memory characteristics as have been described in other skill domains involving memorization, such as digit span and memory for dinner orders.     

Does word training increase or decrease interference in a stroop task?

First and second graders (6- and 7-year-olds) practiced reading 20 words. Before and after word training, they named pictures printed with and without these words as distractors. Of interest was whether training would enhance or diminish the interference created by these words in the picture-naming task. Results indicated that children who learned to recognize unfamiliar distractor words more accurately suffered more interference after training. In contrast, children who were already familiar with the words and learned to recognize them faster experienced less interference following training. Results are interpreted as supporting LaBerge and Samuels' model of automatic word processing. Effects of accuracy training are attributed to the elimination of attention as a requirement for processing distractor words. Effects of speed training are attributed to a reduction in the time consumed by distractor words in the central processor.     

Robust representations for faces: evidence from visual search.

We report evidence from visual search that people can develop robust representations for highly overlearned faces. When observers searched for their own face versus the face of an unfamiliar observer, search slopes and intercepts revealed consistently faster processing of self than stranger. These processing advantages persisted even after hundreds of presentations of the unfamiliar face and even for atypical profile and upside-down views. Observers not only showed rapid asymptotic recognition of their own face as the target, but could reject their own face more quickly as the distractor. These findings suggest that robust representations for a highly overlearned face may (a) mediate rapid asymptotic visual processing, (b) require extensive experience to develop, (c) contain abstract or view-invariant information, (d) facilitate a variety of processes such as target recognition and distractor rejection, and (e) demand less attentional resources.