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Updated: Apr 24, 2026
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Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues
Published on: June 3, 2013
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Longstanding mental representations of familiar faces
Sarah Laurence1, A Mike Burton2, Camilla Düring3
1School of Psychology & Counselling, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
Cognition
|April 22, 2026
Summary
People
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Psychology
- Face perception
Background:
- Human face recognition is robust despite age-related changes.
- Understanding how we update representations of familiar faces over time is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mechanisms underlying the updating of face representations over time.
- To determine how chronological changes in faces influence recognition memory.
Main Methods:
- Four pre-registered experiments were conducted.
- Methods included likeness ratings, speeded name verification, and controlled learning orders.
- Statistical analyses and image analyses were used to rule out confounds.
Main Results:
- Familiar face representations are weighted towards older appearances, irrespective of encounter order.
- Recency effects do not fully explain this weighting.
- Perceived distinctiveness does not account for the observed pattern.
Conclusions:
- Face representation updating is a sophisticated process.
- It incorporates real-world constraints, such as natural chronological aging.
- This challenges simpler models of recognition memory.
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