Abstract
The present study reveals changes in eye-movement patterns as newly learned faces become more familiar. Observers received multiple exposures to newly learned faces over four consecutive days. Recall tasks were performed on all four days, and a recognition task was performed on the fourth day. Eye-movement behaviour was compared across facial exposure and task type. Overall, the eyes were viewed for longer and more often than any other facial region, regardless of face familiarity. As a face became more familiar observers made fewer fixations during recall and recognition. In addition, with increased exposure observers sampled more from the eyes and nose regions, and sampled less from the mouth, forehead, chin, and cheek regions. Interestingly, this observation was significant for recall tasks, but not for recognition.