THE COGNITIVE APPROACH TO FAMILIAR FACE PROCESSING IN HUMAN-SUBJECTS

This paper reviews Bruce and Young's (1986) influential model of face processing, as well as its more recent implementation in the form of an interactive activation network. The multi-componential structure of the model is explained. How this structure can account for empirical effects such as repetition priming, semantic priming or face naming difficulties is briefly discussed. It is then shown how the model can be applied to the analysis of a typical neuropsychological impairment of face processing: prosopagnosia. Finally, the intriguing phenomenon of covert face recognition in prosopagnosic patients is briefly reviewed.