INVERSION AND PROCESSING OF COMPONENT AND SPATIAL-RELATIONAL INFORMATION IN FACES

This study compared effects of inversion on perceptual processing of f aces with distorted components (eyes and mouths) and faces distorted b y altering spatial relations between components. In a rating task, par ticipants inversion reduced the rated grotesqueness of spatially disto rted faces but nor that of faces with altered components, In a compari son task, pairs of faces were shown side by side; participants judged whether they were identical or different. Inversion greatly reduced th e rate at which participants responded within 3 s to pairs that differ ed spatially, but not pairs that differed componentially. Also, latenc ies for detecting spatial differences wen lengthened by inversion mon than latencies for detecting componential differences. Results support the hypothesis that inversion impairs encoding of spatial-relational information more than, or instead of, componential information, depend ing on the task.