Face-name association 1 Running head: FACE-NAME ASSOCIATION Why are some people’s names easier to learn than others? The effects of similarity on memory for face-name associations

Building on previous studies of the effects of similarity on recognition memory for faces (e.g., Busey & Tunnicliff, 1999; Yotsumoto, Kahana, Wilson, & Sekuler, in press), we examined similarity’s role in the learning of novel face-name associations. In Experiment 1, subjects learned the names of synthetic faces that varied along four perceptual dimensions (Wilson, Loffler, & Wilkinson, 2002). Recall performance diminished as a function of how many studied faces were nearby the cue face in similarity space. Also, incorrect recalls were more likely to come from nearby positions in face space. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated analogous effects with a set of more distinguishable, photorealistic faces, and in an associative recognition task, respectively. These results highlight the similarity between associative recall and associative recognition, and between face-name association and other domains of associative memory. Face-name association 3 Why are some people’s names easier to learn than others? The effects of similarity on memory for face-name associations