Korean Journal of Legal Medicine  2015;39(4):120-126

doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.4.120

Effects of Eye Movements on Recognition in a Manipulated-Face Memory Task.

Keunsoo HAM 1 ; Chuyeon PYO ; Seong Ho YOO ; Jihye KWON

Affiliations

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Keywords

Memory; Eye; Movement; Face; Recognition

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

We evaluated the effects of eye movements on facial feature recognition and memory retrieval. Thirty-eight participants learned the faces of five men, including features of the faces (eyes, nose, and mouth), and then performed a recognition memory task for partially manipulated versions of the faces. Bilateral eye movements, recognition accuracy, and mean fixation duration were evaluated. We observed differences in fixation durations for the manipulated features of the faces (eyes, F(3,78)=11.95, P<0.001; and mouth, F(3,78)=21.38, P<0.001). These findings demonstrate that eye movements have a functional role in learning and recognizing human faces. Furthermore, fixation durations increased for the manipulated facial features, suggesting that eye movements during recognition are not simply patterns produced during learning.