Name-face congruence: Mechanisms and influences on social perception

Previous studies have revealed that people judge the suitability of a person's name based in part on the congruence between the mouth shape required to pronounce the name and the roundness of the named person's face. To investigate the neuro-cognitive mechanisms and downstream implications of this effect for social judgments, we recorded participants' event-related brain potentials (Study 1) and personality judgments (Study 2) associated with name-face pairs. The results revealed that a face incongruent with its name evoked more negative N300 and more positive P3b amplitudes (but not more positive P1 and more negative N170), relative to a congruent face. This suggests that names and faces are integrated at the late stage of cognitive processing (i.e., N300 and P3b time windows), likely through connotative meaning, rather than at the earlier stage (i.e., P1 and N170 time windows) which may reflect perceptual similarity. In addition, participants judged congruently named individuals as more likeable, extroverted, and relatable, implying tangible social benefits for those whose names fit their appearance.