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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues
Published on: June 3, 2013
Distinctiveness and the recognition mirror effect: evidence for an item-based criterion placement heuristic
Ian G Dobbins1, Neal E A Kroll
1Psychological & Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. ian@psych.duke.edu
Abstract:
Superior detection and rejection of 1 versus another class of items during recognition is called the mirror effect. Some mirror effects may involve strategic criterion adjustments based on item distinctiveness and its relation to memorability. Three experiments demonstrated mirror effects for known versus unknown scenes and 1 suggested a similar pattern for faces. In opposition to preexperimental familiarity, lures from known and frequently encountered locations were confidently rejected more often than unknown lures. Forgetting and speeding recognition reversed this lure response pattern, suggesting abandonment of strategic adjustment in favor of a single fixed criterion. With sufficient response time and recent encoding, observers demand more evidence for conceptually distinctive items, perhaps because such items typically foster vivid recollection during retrieval.
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