| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
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| Research Abstract |
What is the effect of verbally describing a target face from memory on succeeding recognition task, for example, in an eyewitness' line-up decision? Some experimental research found interfering effects (verbal overshadowing effects) whereas others found facilitating effects or no effects. The purpose of this research is to examine the variables that influence the effects of verbal description on face recognition. Three researches were conducted based on the BEAS model (Itoh, 2005) that hypothesized verbalization interfered with face recognition when the holistic, non-analytical aspects of memory were dominant whereas it facilitated face memory when the partial and analytical aspects were dominant, and the partial and analytic aspects were dominant when memory was poor, for example, because of a long retention interval.
The first research revealed that a long retention interval made the partial and analytic aspects of face memory dominant through recognition experiments using compound faces. It also suggested that a kind of mental settings elicited by the task caused this tendency. The former finding supports the BEAS model whereas the latter does not. More data may be needed for further discussion. The second research suggested that voluntary verbal description interfered with face memory even though verbal description was not required explicitly. We are now planning a research to examine if verbal activity actually is involved in this phenomenon. The third research examined the hypotheses of the BEAS model urging holistic, non-analytic or partial, analytic processing by a task using Navon figures. In this research, materials other than faces (pictures of cloud and finger prints)were used. Although some data that may support the hypotheses of the model were obtained, we need more data and are continuing the research to make the conclusions firmer.
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