The face inversion effect is not a consequence of aberrant eye movements

• Published in: Memory & cognition Vol. 35; no. 8; pp. 1977 - 1985
• Main Authors: WILLIAMS, Carrick C, HENDERSON, John M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Austin, TX Psychonomic Society 01-12-2007; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Discrimination Learning; Experiments; Eye Movements; Face; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Hypotheses; Learning; Memory, Short-Term; Mouth; Orientation; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reaction Time; Vision; Human; Vision; Spatial orientation; Perception; Inversion; Cognition; Experimental study; Face; Eye movement; Recognition
• ISSN: 0090-502X; 1532-5946
• DOI: 10.3758/BF03192930

The face inversion effect is the finding that inverted faces are more difficult to recognize than other inverted objects. The present study explored the possibility that eye movements have a role in producing the face inversion effect. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that the faces used here produce a robust face inversion effect when compared with another homogenous set of objects (antique radios). In Experiment 2, participants' eye movements were monitored while they learned a set of faces and during a recognition test. Although we clearly found a face inversion effect, the same features of a face were fixated during the learning and recognition test faces, whether the face was right side up or upside down. Thus, the face inversion effect is not a result of a different pattern of eye movements during the viewing of the face.