Processing of Internal and External Features in Face Perception

Faces are extraordinarily rich sources ofinformation, revealing a person's identity, emotions,or intentions. Apart from biological and socialrelevance, empirical data suggest that processingmechanisms involved in face perception are differentfrom those mediating other classes of objects. Inthree studies presented here mechanisms involved inface perception were examined by identifyingprocessing paths activated by internal (eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth) and external (hair, head andface outline, ears) facial features. Based on theevidence gained in the studies it was possible to tapdistinct processing paths for internal and externalfeatures, and to draw conclusions about theirinteraction in producing a facial percept. Byidentifying temporal intervals for global featuralinformation on the one hand, and detailed featuraland configural information on the other, evidence forhypothetical processing stages, separated by temporalorder, has been found. The results point to theexistence of distinct modes of face processing, andcontribute to the current debate about the role offeatural and configural facial information, withweight laid on the time course of perception.