Accelerated recognition of left oblique views of faces

• Published in: Experimental brain research 2005-02, Vol.161 (1), p.27-33
• Main Authors: YAMAMOTO, Miyuki, KOWATARI, Yasuyuki, UENO, Shogo, YAMANE, Shigeru, KITAZAWA, Shigeru
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Eye and associated structures. Visual pathways and centers. Vision; Face; Female; Form Perception - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Perception; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time - physiology; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Time Factors; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Vision
• ISSN: 0014-4819; 1432-1106
• DOI: 10.1007/s00221-004-2041-8

Because faces in portraits are depicted more frequently in a left rather than a right oblique (half-profile or 3/4) view, we addressed the question of whether people find it easier to recognize the left or right 3/4 view of a familiar person's face. We examined the ability of 13 subjects to match familiar faces that were presented in either the left or right 3/4 view, with names that were presented either before or after the faces (face-name and name-face matching tasks, respectively). In both tasks, the subjects responded more rapidly to a left than to a right 3/4 view of the same face. This suggests that during face recognition the processing of information from faces that are presented in the left 3/4 view is dominant over the processing of right 3/4 views of familiar faces.