Abstract
We explored the neural signatures of face familiarity using cross-participant and cross-experiment decoding of event-related potentials, evoked by unknown and experimentally familiarized faces from a set of experiments with different participants, stimuli, and familiarization-types. Participants were either familiarized perceptually, via media exposure, or by personal interaction. We observed significant cross-experiment familiarity decoding involving all three experiments, predominantly over posterior and central regions of the right hemisphere in the 270 – 630 ms time window. This shared face familiarity effect was most prominent between the Media and Personal, as well as between the Perceptual and Personal experiments. Cross-experiment decodability makes this signal a strong candidate for a general neural indicator of face familiarity, independent of familiarization methods and stimuli. Furthermore, the sustained pattern of temporal generalization suggests that it reflects a single automatic processing cascade that is maintained over time.
Highlights
We investigated if a general neural signature of face familiarity exist
A cross-experiment decoding analysis of EEG data was used
The analysis involved perceptual, media and personal familiarization methods
We found a preserved pattern of familiarity decoding across experiments between 270 and 630 ms post-stimulus
This signature is consistent with previous reports on face familiarity effects
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Grant support: This work was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KO3918/5-1). Alexia Dalski is supported by a scholarship from the Honours Programme for Future Researchers at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena