Repetition priming from incomplete faces: evidence for part to whole completion

Two experiments are reported in which subjects' reaction times to make familiarity decisions to the faces of famous people were compared for faces primed by previously seeing (1) the internal features of the same face, (2) the external features of the same face, or (3) a complete version of the same face. Reaction times to faces primed by the internal features, the external features or a complete face were significantly facilitated relative to an 'unprimed' comparison condition, and did not differ one from another. Viewing part of a familiar face on a previous occasion was therefore found to be as effective at priming recognition as seeing a whole face. This finding was demonstrated in Expt 1 for priming from the repetition of stimuli derived from an identical photograph of the same famous person, and in Expt 2 for priming from stimuli derived from a different photograph of the same familiar face. 'Distributed processing' accounts of repetition priming may be more useful than accounts based entirely on episodic records in explaining these results.