Individual Differences in Person Perception and Interaction

Abstract

To date, cognitive and neuronal correlates of person perception and human interaction are surprisingly poorly understood. One example is face recognition and face learning skills: Individual differences in these skills has only recently become a focus of  research. In this project, we (1) study face learning in people with good and poor face recognition skills, and specifically address the question whether poor performers might benefit disproportionately from an enhancement of a face ́s idiosyncratic shape or texture (by means of selective spatial caricaturing). We also (2) study neural correlates of individual differences in face recognition skills. In specific experiments, we (3) investigate individual differences in processing the second-order spatial configuration of facial features, by using a metric manipulation of feature placement.  In broader studies with larger groups of participants, we (4) assess relationsips between face and voice perception skills and more general  skills relevant to social cognition and interaction (such as perspective-taking or theory of mind), as well as with personality characteristics (such as the BIG FIVE, or autistic traits)

Selected Relevant Publications

Itz, M.L., Golle, J., Luttmann, S., Schweinberger, S.R. & Kaufmann, J.M. (2017). Dominance of texture over shape in facial identity processing is modulated by individual abilities. British Journal of Psychology, 108(2), 369-396. (Link to pdf)

Kaufmann, J.M., Schulz, C., & Schweinberger, S.R. (2013). High and low performers differ in the use of shape information for face recognition. Neuropsychologia, 51(7), 1310-131. (Link to pdf)

Skuk, V.G., Palermo, R., Broemer, L., & Schweinberger, S.R. (in press, 2017). Autistic Traits are Linked to Individual Differences in Familiar Voice Identification. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. (Link to pdf)

Funding

DFG-grant KA2997/3-1