Holistic Processing of Faces 1 RUNNING HEAD: Holistic Processing of Faces Holistic Processing of Faces: Bridging Paradigms

Several sequential matching composite face paradigms are used to assess “holistic processing” of faces. In the Selective Attention paradigm, participants decide whether one face part (e.g., top) is the same as a previously seen face part. This judgment is affected by whether the irrelevant part is also the same or different. This failure of selective attention implies holistic processing. However, we show that this task alone cannot distinguish between perceptual or decisional sources of holism. This distinction can be addressed by the Complete Identification paradigm, where both face parts are judged same or different, combined with analyses based on General Recognition Theory (GRT; Ashby & Townsend, 1986). We use a different paradigm, Sequential Responses, to relate these two paradigms empirically and theoretically. Sequential Responses produced the same results as Selective Attention and Complete Identification. Moreover, disruptions of holistic processing by systematic misalignment of the faces corresponded with systematic and significant changes in the decisional components but not the perceptual components extracted using GRT measures. This suggests a significant decisional component of holistic face processing in the composite face task.