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Related Experiment Videos

Retrieval failures in face naming

S Brédart1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Liège, Belgium.

Memory (Hove, England)
|December 1, 1993
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

People have unique names, unlike objects with synonyms. This study found that providing an alternative name for a face significantly reduces naming failures, supporting the hypothesis that name uniqueness impacts retrieval.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Retrieval failures are more common for people's names than object names.
  • Object naming allows for synonyms and multiple categorization levels (e.g., trousers, jeans).
  • Face naming typically requires a single, specific label.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if the uniqueness of a single name contributes to face naming difficulties.
  • To test the reversed frequency effect in person naming experimentally.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted using faces with dual identities (actors playing characters).
  • Participants were tested on their ability to retrieve names for faces.
  • The incidence of retrieval blocks was measured when alternative names were available.

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Main Results:

  • When an alternative name for a face could be provided, retrieval blocks decreased significantly.
  • A direct frequency effect, not a reversed one, was observed in person naming.

Conclusions:

  • The constraint of having only one name contributes to the difficulty of face naming.
  • Experimental findings challenge previous diary study reports on the reversed frequency effect in person naming.