Abstract:

Describes and tests a collection of tasks necessary to assess vital aspects of face cognition that should be included in a comprehensive battery of face cognition. As a 1st step in constructing such a battery, 18 tasks aimed at measuring face perception, face learning, face recognition, and the recognition of facially expressed emotions were presented. A sample of 153 healthy, Caucasian young adults (aged 18-35 years) completed all tasks. In general, reaction time measures showed high estimates of internal consistency; tasks focused on performance accuracy yielded reliabilities that were somewhat lower, yet high enough to support their use in a battery of face cognition measures. Some of the tasks allowed computation of established experimental effects in a within-subjects design, such as the part-whole effect. Most of these experimental effects were confirmed in this large sample, and valuable effect size estimates were obtained. However, in many cases these difference measures showed poor estimates of internal consistency. In conclusion, implications of these findings for an all-encompassing measure of face cognition are discussed.