WHATS DISTINCTIVE ABOUT A DISTINCTIVE FACE

In this study we examine the relationship between objective aspects of facial appearance and facial ''distinctiveness''. Specifically, we ex amine whether the extent to which a face deviates from ''average'' cor relates with rated distinctiveness and measures of memorability. We fi nd that, provided the faces are rated with hair concealed, reasonable correlations can be achieved between their physical deviation and thei r rated distinctiveness. More modest correlations are obtained between physical deviation and the extent to which faces are remembered, eith er correctly or falsely, after previous study. Furthermore, memory rat ings obtained to ''target'' faces when they have been previously seen (i.e. ''hits'') do not show the expected negative correlation with the scores obtained to the same faces when acting as distractors (i.e. '' false positives''), though each correlates with rated distinctiveness. This confirms the theory of Vokey and Read (1992) that the typicality /distinctiveness dimension can be broken down into two orthogonal comp onents: ''memorability'' and ''context-free familiarity''.