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Developing familiarity during the first eight months of knowing a person: A longitudinal EEG study on face and identity learning

Popova, Tsvetomila; Wiese, Holger

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Abstract

It is well-established that familiar and unfamiliar faces are processed differently, but surprisingly little is known about how familiarity builds up over time and how novel faces gradually become represented in the brain. Here, we used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in a pre-registered, longitudinal study to examine the neural processes accompanying face and identity learning during the first eight months of knowing a person. Specifically, we examined how increasing real-life familiarity affects visual recognition (N250 Familiarity Effect) and the integration of person-related knowledge (Sustained Familiarity Effect, SFE). Sixteen first-year undergraduates were tested in three sessions, approximately one, five, and eight months after the start of the academic year, with highly variable “ambient” images of a new friend they had met at university and of an unfamiliar person. We observed clear ERP familiarity effects for the new friend after one month of familiarity. While there was an increase in the N250 effect over the course of the study, no change in the SFE was observed. These results suggest that visual face representations develop faster relative to the integration of identity-specific knowledge.

Citation

Popova, T., & Wiese, H. (2023). Developing familiarity during the first eight months of knowing a person: A longitudinal EEG study on face and identity learning. Cortex, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.04.008

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 23, 2023
Online Publication Date May 9, 2023
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date May 10, 2023
Publicly Available Date May 10, 2023
Journal Cortex
Print ISSN 0010-9452
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.04.008
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1174412

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