The recognition of faces is central to human social interaction. Recordings of event-related potentials (ERPs) from the brain can shed light on the various processes that occur when a face is recognized and when knowledge related to a specific person is retrieved. ERP contrasts between processing familiar and processing novel faces offer a gateway into investigations of semantic memory for familiar persons. In particular, activity of face recognition units and semantic information units—memory representations of faces and person-related knowledge, respectively—can be indexed by specific ERPs. These potentials thus provide valuable tools for studying the cognitive and neurobiological architecture of person recognition. ERPs have also been found useful for investigating other types of memory for faces. Specifically, important insights have been derived from the study of a category of memory phenomena known as priming. Priming can be revealed in special tests when face recognition is facilitated based on prior experience. Describing the neural processes associated with memory for faces is an exciting focus of research, and future results from this line of inquiry promise to provide further knowledge about face recognition and the various types of memory that can be provoked by a human face.
De RenziE.Prosopagnosia. In: FeinbergTEFarahMJ, (eds). Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1997: 245–255.
3.
McCarthyG.Physiological studies of face processing in humans. In: GazzanigaMS, (ed). The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Cambridge. MA: The MIT Press; 2000: 393–409.
4.
LuckSJAn Introduction in the Event-Related Potential Technique. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2005.
5.
BruceVYoungA.Understanding face recognition. Brit J Psychology1986; 77: 305–327.
6.
BurtonAMA model of human face recognition. In: GraingerJJacobsAM, (eds). Localist Connectionist Approaches to Human Cognition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1998: 75–100.
7.
ValentineTBrennenTBredartS.The Cognitive Psychology of Proper Names: On the Importance of Being Ernest. Florence, KY: Taylor & Francis/Routledge; 1996.
8.
FriedmanDJohnsonRJr.Event-related potential (ERP) studies of memory encoding and retrieval: A selective review. Microscopy Res Tech2000; 51: 6–28.
9.
MecklingerA.Interfacing mind and brain: A neurocognitive model of recognition memory. Psychophysiology2000; 37: 565–582.
10.
PallerKANeural measures of conscious and unconscious memory. Behav Neurol2000; 12: 127–141.
11.
PallerKAElectrical signals of memory and of the awareness of remembering. Curr Direct Psychol Sci2004; 13: 49–55.
12.
RuggMDERP studies of memory. In: RuggMDColesMGH, (eds). Electrophysiology of Mind: Event-related Potentials and Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1995: 132–170.
13.
RuggMDAllanK.Memory retrieval: An electrophysiological perspective. In: GazzanigaMS, (ed). The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT Press; 2000: 805–816.
14.
RuggMDDoyleMCEvent-related potentials and stimulus repetition in direct and indirect tests of memory. In: HeinzeH-JMünteTFMangunGR, (eds). Cognitive Electrophysiology. Boston: Birkhäuser; 1994: 124–148.
15.
TulvingE.Elements of Episodic Memory. New York: Oxford University Press; 1983.
16.
EimerM.Effects of face inversion on the structural encoding and recognition of faces: Evidence from event-related brain potentials. Cogn Brain Res2000; 10: 145–158.
17.
EimerM.Event-related brain potentials distinguish processing stages involved in face perception and recognition. Clin Neurophysiol2000; 111: 694–705.
18.
BentinSDeouellLYStructural encoding and identification in face processing: ERP evidence for separate mechanisms. Cogn Neuropsychol2000; 17: 35–54.
19.
SchweinbergerSRBurtonAMCovert recognition and the neural system for face processing. Cortex2003; 39: 9–30.
20.
BoehmSGSommerW.Neural correlates of intentional and incidental recognition of famous faces. Cogn Brain Res2005; 23: 153–163.
21.
BoehmSGSommerWLueschowA.Correlates of implicit memory for words and faces in event-related brain potentials. Intl J Psychophysiol2005; 55: 95–112.
22.
PfuetzeE-MSommerWSchweinbergerSRAge-related slowing in face and name recognition: Evidence from event-related brain potentials. Psychol Aging2002; 17: 140–160.
23.
SchweinbergerSRPfuetzeE-MSommerW.Repetition priming and associative priming of face recognition: Evidence from event-related potentials. J Exp Psychol: Learn Mem Cogn1995; 21: 722–736.
24.
SchweinbergerSRPickeringECJentzschIBurtonAMKaufmannJMEvent-related brain potential evidence for a response of inferior temporal cortex to familiar face repetitions. Cogn Brain Res2002; 14: 398409.
25.
BoehmSGGonsalvesBKlostermannECPallerKANeural correlates of implicit memory for common objects. In preparation.
26.
Martin-LoechesMSommerWHinojosaJAERP components reflecting stimulus identification: Contrasting the recognition potential and the early repetition effect (N250r). Inter J Psychophysiol2005; 55: 113–125.
27.
HaxbyJVGobbiniMIFureyMLIshaiASchoutenJLPietriniP.Distributed and overlapping representations of faces and objects in ventral temporal cortex. Science2001; 293: 2425–2430.
28.
SchweinbergerSRPickeringECBurtonAMKaufmannJMHuman brain potential correlates of repetition priming in face and name recognition. Neuropsychologia2002; 40: 2057–2073.
29.
RuggMDMarkREWallaPSchloerscheidtAMBirchCSAllanK.Dissociation of the neural correlates of implicit and explicit memory. Nature1998; 392: 595–598.
30.
VossJLPallerKAFluent conceptual processing and explicit memory for faces are electrophysiologically distinct. J Neurosci2006; 26: 926–933.
31.
SchweinbergerSRHow Gorbachev primed Yeltsin: Analysis of associative priming in person recognition by means of reaction times and event-related brain potentials. J Exp Psychol: Learn Mem Cogn1996; 22: 1383–1407.
32.
BruceVValentineT.Identity priming in the recognition of familiar faces. Brit J Psychology1985; 76: 373–383.
33.
SlomanSAHaymanCAGOhtaNLawJTulvingE.Forgetting in primed fragment completion. J Exp Psychol: Learn Mem Cogn1988; 14: 223–239.
34.
Richardson-KlavehnABjorkRAMeasures of memory. Ann Rev Psychology1988; 39: 475–543.
35.
RoedigerHLIIIMcDermottKBImplicit memory in normal human subjects. In: BoilerFGrafmanJ, (eds). Handbook of Neuropsychology. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1993: 63–131.
36.
SchacterDLImplicit memory: History and current status. J Exp Psychol: Learn Mem Cogn1987; 13: 501–518.
37.
GabrieliJDECognitive neuroscience of human memory. Ann Rev Psychol1998; 49: 87–115.
38.
SchacterDLChiuCYPOchsnerKNImplicit memory: A selective review. Ann Rev Neurosci1993; 16: 159–182.
39.
SquireLRKnowltonBJThe medial temporal lobe, the hippocampus, and the memory systems of the brain. In: GazzanigaMS, (ed). The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2000: 765–779.
40.
CraikFIMLockhartRSLevels of processing: A framework for memory research. J Verb Learn Verb Behav1972; 11: 671–684.
41.
JacobyLLDallasM.On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning. J Exp Psychol: Gen1981; 110: 306–340.
42.
PallerKAHutsonCAMillerBBBoehmSGNeural manifestations of memory with and without awareness. Neuron2003; 38: 507–516.
43.
PallerKABozicVSRanganathCGraboweckyMYamadaS.Brain waves following remembered faces index conscious recollection. Cogn Brain Res1999; 7: 519–531.
44.
PallerKAGonsalvesBGraboweckyMBozicVSYamadaS.Electrophysiological correlates of recollecting faces of known and unknown individuals. Neuroimage2000; 11: 98–110.
45.
JoyceCAPallerKASchwartzTJKutasM.An electrophysiological analysis of modality-specific aspects of word repetition. Psychophysiology1999; 36: 655–665.
46.
PallerKAKutasMMcIsaacHKAn electrophysiological measure of priming of visual word-form. Conscious Cogn1998; 7: 54–66.
47.
PallerKAGrossM.Brain potentials associated with perceptual priming vs explicit remembering during the repetition of visual word-form. Neuropsychologia1998; 36: 359–371.
48.
RuggMDAllanKBirchCSElectrophysiological evidence for the modulation of retrieval orientation by depth of study processing. J Cogn Neurosci2000; 12: 664–678.
49.
RuggMDNieto-VegasM.Modality-specific effects of immediate word repetition: Electrophysiological evidence. NeuroReport1999; 10: 2661–2664.
50.
HensonRNAGoshen-GottsteinYGanelTOttenLJQuayleARuggMDElectrophysiological and hemodynamic correlates of face perception, recognition and priming. Cereb Cortex2003; 13: 793–805.
51.
NesslerDMecklingerAPenneyTBPerceptual fluency, semantic familiarity and recognition-related familiarity: An electrophysiological exploration. Cogn Brain Res2005; 22: 265–288.
52.
BoehmSGKlostermannECSommerWPallerKADissociating perceptual and representation-based contributions to priming of face recognition. Conscious Cogn2006; 15: 163–174.
53.
BoehmSGKlostermannECPallerKANeural correlates of perceptual contributions to implicit memory for faces. Neuroimage2006; 30: 1021–1029.
54.
YovelGPallerKAThe neural basis of the butcher-on-the-bus phenomenon: When a face seems familiar but is not remembered. NeuroImage2004; 21: 789–800.
55.
JoyceCAKutasM.Event-related potential correlates of long-term memory for briefly presented faces. J Cogn Neurosci2005; 17: 757–767.
