Vokey and Read (1992) proposed that the effect of typicality on face recognition was a function of familiarity and rated memorability, reporting that typicality loaded equally on components that they identified with these variables. We offer an alternative interpretation to that of Vokey and Read in terms of the relationship between typicality and attractiveness (when the former is measured as a deviation from the typical face), the mere exposure effect, and the metamemorial beliefs of participants. In our study we identified distinctiveness, attractiveness, and residual memory components. Supporting our interpretation, three of our four measures of typicality failed to load with familiarity on the attractiveness component. Only our measure of deviation from the typical face replicated Vokey and Read's results because of its correlation with attractiveness.
Morris was lead author. He was primarily responsible for the contents of the paper and for writing the paper. Morris was supervisor of research student co-author (Wickham). Morris reported the results at the EPS conference, Durham, 1999. RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Psychology
