Recognising Familiar Faces

Abstract

Much of the research in the area of face recognition has explored the processing of and memory for previously unfamiliar faces. Such research has provided us with important information about hemispheric specialisation in face processing (Ellis, 1983, and Rhodes, 1985 give reviews), the kinds of visual information which might be extracted from faces (e.g. see Sergent, 1984, and this volume), and, of most applied relevance, the factors which may influence an eyewitness’s ability to identify a suspect from a line-up or photograph file (see review by Deffenbacher & Horney, 1981). However, such research in isolation cannot tell us about the cognitive processes involved when we recognise a familiar face. Experiments on letter recognition or memory for nonsense syllables do not reveal semantic levels of processing which are involved in word recognition, nor do they inform us of the relationship between perceptual and semantic classification. In the same way, by studying only the processing of unfamiliar faces we will not learn about the totality of perceptual and cognitive processes which operate when we recognise the faces of our friends.