Recognizing familiar faces: The role of distinctiveness and familiarity.

Abstract

Bartlett et al. (1984) argued that the well-documented effect of distinctiveness in recognition memory for previously unfamiliar faces can be accounted for in terms of the differential perceived familiarity of distinctive and typical faces. The experiment reported found independent effects of distinctiveness and familiarity in the recognition of highly familiar faces. These results are inconsistent with Bartlett et al.''s familiarity hypothesis and are explained better in terms of a facial prototype.