Testing alternatives to Navon letters to induce a transfer-inappropriate processing shift in face recognition

Abstract

Processing the local features of a Navon letter (a large global letter made up of small letters) causes a reduction in face identification accuracy (Macrae & Lewis, 2002). This is similar to the verbal overshadowing effect (where describing a face causes it to be less well recognised, see e.g., Schooler & Engstler-Schooler, 1990). Three experiments are presented that explore this Navon effect. Experiment 1 replicates the Navon effect using a new set of stimuli. Experiment 2 extends the effect using Navon shapes in a manner that removes verbal responses. Extending the logic of the proposed transfer-inappropriate processing shift explanation, Experiment 3 attempted to show the same effect using spatial-frequency filtered faces as an induction akin to Navon stimuli. The equivalent effect was not observed. We discuss whether the results indicate that the Navon effect is due to a different mechanism from the verbal overshadowing effect.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Michelle Cahill for collecting some of the data, ALS Industries for filming the football match, and Glyndwr's Army FC for being the models for the stimuli. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and Christina Howard for comments on an earlier draft of this work. Moreover, the authors would like to offer special thanks to Toby Lloyd-Jones for careful reading and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this work. This research was supported by grant PTA-030-2003-00524 from the ESRC to PH.

Notes

¹The Navon stimuli were created by Andy Brand for his PhD thesis. They are available from the authors of this paper.