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. 2021 May 8;23(5):580.
doi: 10.3390/e23050580.

Word and Face Recognition Processing Based on Response Times and Ex-Gaussian Components

Carmen Moret-Tatay  1   2   3 , David García-Ramos  4 , Begoña Sáiz-Mauleón  5 , Daniel Gamermann  6 , Cyril Bertheaux  7 , Céline Borg  8   9   10
Affiliations

Word and Face Recognition Processing Based on Response Times and Ex-Gaussian Components

Carmen Moret-Tatay et al. Entropy (Basel). .

Abstract

The face is a fundamental feature of our identity. In humans, the existence of specialized processing modules for faces is now widely accepted. However, identifying the processes involved for proper names is more problematic. The aim of the present study is to examine which of the two treatments is produced earlier and whether the social abilities are influent. We selected 100 university students divided into two groups: Spanish and USA students. They had to recognize famous faces or names by using a masked priming task. An analysis of variance about the reaction times (RT) was used to determine whether significant differences could be observed in word or face recognition and between the Spanish or USA group. Additionally, and to examine the role of outliers, the Gaussian distribution has been modified exponentially. Famous faces were recognized faster than names, and differences were observed between Spanish and North American participants, but not for unknown distracting faces. The current results suggest that response times to face processing might be faster than name recognition, which supports the idea of differences in processing nature.

Keywords: celebrities; ex-Gaussian fit; face recognition; reaction time; word recognition.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of the conditions related to the masked priming task. At the top, an example of a block for the Prime (Celebrity name)–Test stimulus, and vice versa at the bottom. Blocks were counterbalanced in all groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interactions between response times in face (SD = 77.43) and name (SD = 90.97), as well as responses for face (SD = 88.64) and name distracting ones (SD = 111.95) for Spain (SP). Interactions between response times in face (SD = 92.26), and name (SD = 110.39), test stimuli, as well as responses for face (SD = 91.96) and name distracting ones (SD = 117.88) for USA (US).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Ex-Gaussian fits carried out on face recognition data when participants were from Spain.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Ex-Gaussian fits carried out on face recognition data when participants were from the USA.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Ex-Gaussian fits carried out on name recognition data when participants were from Spain.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Ex-Gaussian fits carried out on name recognition data when participants were from the USA.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Ex-Gaussian parameters average across prime conditions and countries for the response times in the test condition.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Ex-Gaussian parameters average across prime conditions and countries for the response times in the distracting condition.
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