Abstract: Face inversion effect refers to the fact that the recognition is severely impaired for inverted relative to upright faces. The inversion effect is larger for faces relative to other objects, such as house. Several theoretical frameworks have been proposed to account for this face inversion effect, but the present review focused on two popular views, namely the configural processing hypothesis and the eye specificity hypothesis. The configural processing hypothesis posits that inverted faces impair the structural feature of faces and thus influence holistic processing. According to the eye specificity hypothesis, eyes play an important role in face processing, especially when faces are inverted. Evidences from ERP and fMRI studies are discussed. The importance of eyes and attention should be addressed in future studies.

Key words: face inversion effect, holistic processing, eyes, ERP, N170, fMRI