Temporal limitation of Navon effect on face recognition

Performance on a face identification line-up task is impaired if an intervening task involved processing the local features of a Navon stimulus rather than its global features. These results have only been shown in comparison with a reading task in line-up paradigms. In Exp. 1 undergraduates (3 men, 17 women, M age=19 yr., selected by convenience) were tested in a replication of this Navon-effect using a recognition paradigm. The effect is observed only during the early part of the recognition test phase. In Exp. 2 analysis of undergraduates' responses (9 men, 20 women, M age=19, selected by convenience) showed the decrease in the Navon effect could be prevented by alternating the Navon task with the face recognition task.