Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces
Abstract Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic images of humans. What it is in virtual faces that yields reduced memory has so far remained unclear. The current study investigated face memory in the context of virtual agent faces and human f...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2022-10-01
|
| Series: | Cognitive Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00445-y |
| _version_ | 1798028515101114368 |
|---|---|
| author | Julija Vaitonytė Maryam Alimardani Max M. Louwerse |
| author_facet | Julija Vaitonytė Maryam Alimardani Max M. Louwerse |
| author_sort | Julija Vaitonytė |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic images of humans. What it is in virtual faces that yields reduced memory has so far remained unclear. The current study investigated face memory in the context of virtual agent faces and human faces, real and manipulated, considering two factors of predicted influence, i.e., corneal reflections and skin contrast. Corneal reflections referred to the bright points in each eye that occur when the ambient light reflects from the surface of the cornea. Skin contrast referred to the degree to which skin surface is rough versus smooth. We conducted two memory experiments, one with high-quality virtual agent faces (Experiment 1) and the other with the photographs of human faces that were manipulated (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 showed better memory for virtual faces with increased corneal reflections and skin contrast (rougher rather than smoother skin). Experiment 2 replicated these findings, showing that removing the corneal reflections and smoothening the skin reduced memory recognition of manipulated faces, with a stronger effect exerted by the eyes than the skin. This study highlights specific features of the eyes and skin that can help explain memory discrepancies between real and virtual faces and in turn elucidates the factors that play a role in the cognitive processing of faces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:10:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2735370b57764ab0983fec1b1b8aac70 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2365-7464 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:10:29Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cognitive Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-2735370b57764ab0983fec1b1b8aac702022-12-22T04:07:38ZengSpringerOpenCognitive Research2365-74642022-10-017111510.1186/s41235-022-00445-yCorneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual facesJulija Vaitonytė0Maryam Alimardani1Max M. Louwerse2Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg UniversityDepartment of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg UniversityDepartment of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg UniversityAbstract Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic images of humans. What it is in virtual faces that yields reduced memory has so far remained unclear. The current study investigated face memory in the context of virtual agent faces and human faces, real and manipulated, considering two factors of predicted influence, i.e., corneal reflections and skin contrast. Corneal reflections referred to the bright points in each eye that occur when the ambient light reflects from the surface of the cornea. Skin contrast referred to the degree to which skin surface is rough versus smooth. We conducted two memory experiments, one with high-quality virtual agent faces (Experiment 1) and the other with the photographs of human faces that were manipulated (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 showed better memory for virtual faces with increased corneal reflections and skin contrast (rougher rather than smoother skin). Experiment 2 replicated these findings, showing that removing the corneal reflections and smoothening the skin reduced memory recognition of manipulated faces, with a stronger effect exerted by the eyes than the skin. This study highlights specific features of the eyes and skin that can help explain memory discrepancies between real and virtual faces and in turn elucidates the factors that play a role in the cognitive processing of faces.https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00445-yFace memoryFace perceptionVirtual facesCorneal reflectionsSkin contrast |
| spellingShingle | Julija Vaitonytė Maryam Alimardani Max M. Louwerse Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces Cognitive Research Face memory Face perception Virtual faces Corneal reflections Skin contrast |
| title | Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces |
| title_full | Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces |
| title_fullStr | Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces |
| title_full_unstemmed | Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces |
| title_short | Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces |
| title_sort | corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces |
| topic | Face memory Face perception Virtual faces Corneal reflections Skin contrast |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00445-y |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT julijavaitonyte cornealreflectionsandskincontrastyieldbettermemoryofhumanandvirtualfaces AT maryamalimardani cornealreflectionsandskincontrastyieldbettermemoryofhumanandvirtualfaces AT maxmlouwerse cornealreflectionsandskincontrastyieldbettermemoryofhumanandvirtualfaces |