Age of acquisition in face categorisation: is there an instance-based account?

An instance-based model of the effects of age of acquisition (AoA) is offered and derived predictions are considered. A face-categorisation experiment is reported which tested these predictions. Nine participants made speeded-categorisation judgements of 185 faces from two TV shows. Ratings were giv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition 1999-05, Vol.71 (1), p.B23-B39
Main Author: Lewis, Michael B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Factors
Age of acquisition
Ageing
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
Classification
Cognition
Cognition. Intelligence
College Students
Face
Face categorisation
Facial expressions
Facial Recognition
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Individual Development
Mass Media
Memory
Miscellaneous
Models, Psychological
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Recognition (Psychology)
Regression Analysis
Time Factors
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Summary:An instance-based model of the effects of age of acquisition (AoA) is offered and derived predictions are considered. A face-categorisation experiment is reported which tested these predictions. Nine participants made speeded-categorisation judgements of 185 faces from two TV shows. Ratings were given for the faces' frequency of occurrence in the shows and, for each face, the length of time the character was in the show and the time since they had left was found. Regression analyses were used to find how the factors affected the speed of categorisation. Speed of categorisation was found to follow a negative power function of the frequency and time on the show and a positive power function of the time since they had left. This was supportive of the instance-based account and suggests that effects of AoA with words and objects can be explained in terms of cumulative frequency.
ISSN:0010-0277
1873-7838
DOI:10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00020-7