TY - JOUR
T1 - The locus of semantic priming effects in person recognition
AU - McNeill, Allan
AU - Burton, A. Mike
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2005 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2002/10
Y1 - 2002/10
N2 - Semantic priming in person recognition has been studied extensively. In a typical experiment, participants are asked to make a familiarity decision to target items that have been immediately preceded by related or unrelated primes. Facilitation is usually observed from related primes, and this priming is equivalent across stimulus domains (i.e., faces and names prime one another equally). Structural models of face recognition (e.g., IAC: Burton, Bruce, & Johnston, 1990) accommodate these effects by proposing a level of person identity nodes (PINs) at which recognition routes converge, and which allow access to a common pool of semantics. We present three experiments that examine semantic priming for different decisions. Priming for a semantic decision (e.g., British/American?) shows exactly the same pattern that is normally observed for a familiarity decision. The pattern is equivalent for name and face recognition. However, no semantic priming is observed when participants are asked to make a sex decision. These results constrain future models of face processing and are discussed with reference to current theories of semantic priming.
AB - Semantic priming in person recognition has been studied extensively. In a typical experiment, participants are asked to make a familiarity decision to target items that have been immediately preceded by related or unrelated primes. Facilitation is usually observed from related primes, and this priming is equivalent across stimulus domains (i.e., faces and names prime one another equally). Structural models of face recognition (e.g., IAC: Burton, Bruce, & Johnston, 1990) accommodate these effects by proposing a level of person identity nodes (PINs) at which recognition routes converge, and which allow access to a common pool of semantics. We present three experiments that examine semantic priming for different decisions. Priming for a semantic decision (e.g., British/American?) shows exactly the same pattern that is normally observed for a familiarity decision. The pattern is equivalent for name and face recognition. However, no semantic priming is observed when participants are asked to make a sex decision. These results constrain future models of face processing and are discussed with reference to current theories of semantic priming.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0039484865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/02724980244000189
DO - 10.1080/02724980244000189
M3 - Article
C2 - 12420989
AN - SCOPUS:0039484865
SN - 0272-4987
VL - 55
SP - 1141
EP - 1156
JO - Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology
JF - Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology
IS - 4
ER -