Abstract
The ability to recognize faces under varying contexts and conditions is essential for our social perception. One factor varying strongly in different situations is the viewpoint a face is presented in. The question has been raised if there are quantitative differences in face processing with regard to different viewpoints or viewpoint changes between children and adults. Here, we investigated face memory performance in school-aged children and adults in two experiments: Experiment 1 addressed the effects of different viewpoints on face memory performance in five- to ten-year-old children and adults (N = 110). In a within-group design three versions of a 2AFC-task were completed by each participant, comprising pictures of faces in either front, three-quarter or profile views. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of viewpoint changes on face memory performance in six- to ten-year-old children and adults (N = 180). Three main viewpoint changes between study and test phase were investigated (45°_front: front/three-quarter or three-quarter/front; 45°_profile: three-quarter/profile or profile/three-quarter; 90°:, front/profile or profile/front). A between-group design was applied, in which each participant completed one direction of each viewpoint change. Data of experiment 1 revealed a main effect of age group and a main effect of viewpoint – with frontal and three-quarter views being remembered more often than profile views. Experiment 2 revealed a main effect of age group and a main effect of viewpoint change – the difficulty level rising from 45°_front to 45°_profil to 90°. The lack of a viewpoint x age group interaction (Experiment1) and the lack of a viewpoint change x age group interaction (Experiment 2) indicate similar viewpoint and viewpoint change effects across age groups. Our results support the notion that there are no quantitative differences in face processing with regard to different viewpoints and viewpoint changes in children and adults.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015