The face superiority effect describes how human faces are perceived and remembered as unified, holistic wholes rather than as a set of separately processed features such as the eyes, nose and mouth. This holistic style of processing lets the visual system quickly distinguish among thousands of individual faces, but the advantage largely disappears when a face is shown upside down or otherwise distorted, which disrupts the configural relationships the system normally relies on.
Facts
Classification
Type of Phenomenon Core ClaimThe human mind perceives and encodes faces into memory holistically. 1 Connections
In Branch
Source Face superiority effect (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Face superiority effect (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraph
the holistic way in which the human mind perceives and encodes human faces into memory.
In Branch: Cognitive Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Face superiority effect' is filed under Category:Cognitive psychology.
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