Abstract
Viewpoint aftereffects refer to the finding that after a prolonged exposure to the image of an object oriented to either the left or the right side (adaptor image), the perception of the image presented near the frontal view is biased in a direction opposite to the adaptor image (Fang & He, 2005). The aftereffects suggest that representations of visual stimuli are organized in a viewpoint-specific manner. The present study investigated whether qualitative or quantitative differences between representations of familiar and unfamiliar faces suggested in the literature on face processing can be reflected in differences in the viewpoint aftereffects. Familiarization of faces was achieved by presenting semantic information about each face, along with multiple images of faces presented at different viewpoints. Magnitude of the viewpoint aftereffects elicited by familiar faces was significantly greater than that induced by unfamiliar faces. In addition, when the adaptor image was orientated to the left side, greater aftereffects were obtained, regardless of the degree of familiarity associated with the faces. The results indicate that familiarity exert influences on perceptual processes mediating the viewpoint aftereffects.
The authors would like to thank Alain Mignault for his help with stimuli generation, Reza Farivar and Karen Borrmann for helpful discussions on this project.