Learning of inverted and normally oriented faces in children and adults

Abstract

In a series of experiments, adult Ss learned paired associates composed of normally oriented faces and common proper names significantly faster than inverted faces and the same names. It was hypothesized that this difficulty with inverted faces was a function of the large number of exposures to normally oriented faces. To test this hypothesis young children (who, it was assumed, would have had far less experience with faces) and adults were asked to learn face-letter associations. Approximately 1/2 of each age group were shown upright face-letter associates; the remaining Ss were shown inverted face-letter associates. The prediction, that the difference in learning between the upright and inverted children's groups would be significantly smaller than the difference between the upright and inverted adult groups, was confirmed.