The influence of processing instructions at encoding and retrieval on face recognition accuracy

Authors

Garrett L. Berman, Florida International University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Major/Program

Psychology

First Advisor's Name

Brian L. Cutler

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Ronald P. Fisher

Third Advisor's Name

Paul W. Foos

Keywords

Face perception

Date of Defense

11-6-1992

Abstract

Whereas previous research has demonstrated that trait ratings of faces at encoding leads to enhanced recognition accuracy as compared to feature ratings, this set of experiments examines whether ratings given after encoding and just prior to recognition influence face recognition accuracy. In Experiment 1 subjects who made feature ratings just prior to recognition were significantly less accurate than subjects who made no ratings or trait ratings. In Experiment 2 ratings were manipulated at both encoding and retrieval. The retrieval effect was smaller and nonsignificant, but a combined probability analysis showed that it was significant when results from both experiments are considered jointly. In a third experiment exposure duration at retrieval, a potentially confounding factor in Experiments 1 and 2, had a nonsignificant effect on recognition accuracy, suggesting that it probably does not explain the results from Experiments 1 and 2. These experiments demonstrate that face recognition accuracy can be influenced by processing instructions at retrieval.

Recommended Citation

Berman, Garrett L., "The influence of processing instructions at encoding and retrieval on face recognition accuracy" (1992). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1628.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1628