Face recognition and identification are optimized by holistic processing. Various visual-spatial manipulations appear to have transfer effects on holistic face processing. The present experiment tests the effects of a semantic manipulation--of construal level--on holistic processing as measured by composite congruency effects. Participants completed two blocks of trials. The first served as a b...

Holistic processing is a hallmark of face processing. There is evidence that holistic processing is strongest for faces at identification distance, 2 - 10 meters from the observer. However, this evidence is based on tasks that have been little used in the literature and that are indirect measures of holistic processing. We use the composite task- a well validated and frequently used paradigm - ...

The composite face task is one of the most popular research paradigms for measuring holistic processing of upright faces. The exact mechanism underlying holistic processing remains elusive and controversial, and some studies have suggested that holistic processing may not be evenly distributed, in that the top-half of a face might induce stronger holistic processing than its bottom-half counter...