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Facial Perception as a Configural Process

2010; Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology; Volume: 10; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1167/10.7.688

1534-7362

Devin Burns, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend,

Face Recognition and Perception

Configural or gestalt processing are general terms given to phenomena where the whole is different from the sum of its parts. Here we explore these phenomena through face perception, a known configural process. Split faces have often been employed as a manipulation that disrupts the configurality typically found in face processing. By applying systems factorial theory we can discover the differences in processing that result from splitting faces. This knowledge can help us further our understanding of what configurality is, and what qualities are necessary to observe it. We find that the difference in this case is due to a reduction in the workload capacity of the system, as measured by Townsend's capacity coefficient. Systems factorial technology is employed to draw conclusions regarding architecture, stopping rule, capacity and independence.