Exploring early perceptual processing of faces displaying Down syndrome features from a masked priming paradigm

Understanding how facial characteristics associated with intellectual disability are processed during early stages of perception may provide new insights into disability-related social cognition. Masked priming paradigms offer a useful approach for examining how contextual information influences face recognition before conscious deliberation.

Digitally generated facial stimuli displaying Down syndrome characteristics were developed from standardized facial photographs and validated by 66 experts and 136 participants from the general population. The validated stimuli were subsequently used in a masked priming face recognition task completed by 22 psychology students, in which reaction times (RTs) and recognition accuracy were recorded across three priming conditions.

Priming condition significantly influenced reaction times, with faster responses observed in the identity condition, in which prime and target shared both identity and facial phenotype, than under feature-based or different priming conditions. Facial phenotype alone did not significantly affect reaction times or recognition accuracy. However, recognition accuracy varied according to the interaction between priming condition, facial phenotype, and stimulus type, indicating that behavioural performance depended on the experimental context rather than on facial phenotype alone.

This exploratory study provides preliminary evidence that the recognition of faces displaying Down syndrome characteristics involves early perceptual processes. The findings contribute to the emerging field of disability-related social cognition and support the use of experimental cognitive paradigms to better understand disability perception.