Inversion Effect
This experiment replicates an experiment performed by Robert Yin in 1969. It was the first reported use of the inversion technique—which is the experimental manipulation in which faces are turned upside-down—that has been used many times since. This paradigm helped psychologists understand some of the processes underlying face recognition
Instructions
You will need to press the space bar to start the experiment. A series of stimuli (faces and houses) will appear in the center of the screen, one at a time. There will be 40 stimuli, each presented briefly. Some of them will appear upright and others will appear upside-down. After a short retention interval (2 minutes), 12 pairs of faces and 12 pairs of houses will appear one after the other. Your task is to identify which stimulus (face or house) in each pair you saw during the first phase of the experiment, known as the study phase.
Keyboard Responses
Key | What Response Means |
---|---|
g | Stimulus on left was seen during study |
h | Stimulus on right was seen during study |
Begin Experiment
Results
Debriefing
Based in part on results from Yin (1969) on the inversion effect, theories of face-recognition assume that faces are processed in a configural manner. Configural refers to processing an entire stimulus as a whole, rather than featurally, or one feature at a time. The configural vs. featural processing debate is akin to the idea of global vs. local processing. That is, does the viewer take in the whole scene, or process it by adding up the constituent parts?
Yin’s work has inspired countless other studies on the nature of face-recognition abilities in humans and in other species. This experiment approaches the face-recognition phenomenon from a cognitive perspective, but other psychologists examine face recognition from other viewpoints, such as neuroscience, forensics, and development.
References:
Yin, R. K. (1969). Looking at upside-down faces. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 81, 141-145.
Yin, R. K. (1970). Face recognition: A special process? Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
Yin, R. K. (1970). Face recognition by brain-injured patients: a dissociable ability? Neuropsychologia, 8, 295-402.
Quiz