Face Recognition as a Function of Judgments of Likability/Unlikability

The relationship between face recognition and likability was investigated in three experiments. Subjects were asked to rate the likability of faces presented to them and then were tested on their ability to recognize the same faces. In Experiments 1 and 2, we used the subjects' individual ratings of likability to form idiocentric groups of faces (two groups, likable/unlikable, Experiment 1; three groups, likable/neutral/unlikable, Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, likable faces were found to be recognized more readily than were faces less likable. Experiment 2 revealed that the faces judged least likable were significantly less well remembered than neutral or more likable faces. In Experiment 3, a group mean for each face's likability was determined, and the faces were divided into quartiles according to the group mean scores. Again, the subjects' recognition responses for unlikable faces were at a lower level than for faces rated higher in likability. Experiments 2 and 3 found no difference in recognition memory between neutral and more likable faces. The results confirmed the notion that likability judgments (emotionality) play a mediating role in recognition.