ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

›› 2011, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (8): 1126-1137.

• 研究前沿 • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Role of Configural and Featural Processing in Face Recognition

WANG Ya-Min;HUANG Ya-Mei   

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
  • Received:2011-02-06 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:2011-08-15 Published:2011-08-15
  • Contact: WANG Ya-Min

Abstract: Configural and featural processing, two most important processing modes in face recognition, were reviewed based on literatures frequently cited and supported during recent 40 years. Different related conceptions and methods were discussed, and the findings supported both by behavioral and cognitive neuroscience researches were emphasized and systematically interpreted under a frame of dissociated facial recognition. Developmental and neurobiological studies were further reviewed to provide a robust evidence of two processing modes in facial recognition. Furthermore, the potential different levels of configural processing were proposed to explain the conflicted conclusions in the field. Whatever, the distinction between configural processing and featural processing was well supported, and these two processing pattern may be used to account for how we obtain different facial property information from one’s faces. Still, the subcategory of configural information and the differences between conceptions such as configural, holistic, whole, and global were suggested to be explored in the future.

Key words: face recognition, configural processing, featural processing