Conjunction errors: Are they due to face processing or low level picture processing

To study contributions of featural and configural processing in face recognition we look at how recognition is affected when participants see faces that share features with previously seen faces. In prior studies, researchers have found that participants had a high number of recognition errors (referred to as conjunction errors) to these faces. However, in all these studies the same pictures were seen at study and test. This creates a problem because pictures not only convey structural information about the face, but also convey pictorial information (e.g. picture quality). Because face recognition experiments have been done using the same pictures for study and test, it is unclear whether conjunction errors are due to face processing or low level picture processing. The purpose of this dissertation is to study the effect of a change in picture on conjunction errors. Three experiments were conducted that manipulated face pictures between study and test. The three manipulations included subtle changes in face appearance, pose, and facial expression of the faces learned by our participants. The results of these three experiments suggest that conjunction errors are due to face processing and not to low level picture processing.