Burton, Anthony Michael orcid.org/0000-0002-2035-2084, Jenkins, Robert orcid.org/0000-0003-4793-0435 and Robertson, David (2019) I recognise your name but I can’t remember your face:an advantage for names in recognition memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. pp. 1847-1854. ISSN 1747-0226
Abstract
Forgetting someone’s name is a common failure of memory, and often occurs despite being able to recognise that person’s face. This gives rise to the widespread view that memory for names is generally worse than memory for faces. However, this everyday error confounds stimulus class (faces vs. names) with memory task: recognition versus recall. Here we compare memory for faces and names when both are tested in the same recognition memory framework. Contrary to the common view, we find a clear advantage for names over faces. Across three experiments, we show that recognition of previously unfamiliar names exceeds recognition of previously unfamiliar faces. This advantage persists, even when the same face pictures are repeated at learning and test—a picture-memory task known to produce high levels of performance. Differential performance between names and faces disappears in recognition memory for familiar people. The results are discussed with reference to representational complexity and everyday memory errors.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Experimental Psychology Society 2018. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Keywords: | Name recall,face memory,face recognition |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ESRC) ES/J022950/2 EUROPEAN COMMISSION 20120411 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jan 2019 16:00 |
Last Modified: | 27 Nov 2024 00:34 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021818813081 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1747021818813081 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:141164 |
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Filename: Face_Name_Paper_accepted.pdf
Description: Face Name Paper - accepted