Stereotype priming in face recognition: Interactions between semantic and visual information in face encoding

The accuracy with which previously unfamiliar faces are recognised is increased by the presentation of a stereotype-congruent occupation label [Klatzky, R. L., Martin, G. L., & Kane, R. A. (1982a). Semantic interpretation effects on memory for faces. Memory & Cognition, 10, 195–206; Klatzky, R. L., Martin, G. L., & Kane, R. A. (1982b). Influence of social-category activation on processing of visual information. Social Cognition, 1, 95–109]. For example, providing the label ‘criminal’ both during encoding and test improves recognition for previously unfamiliar faces that look like the stereotypical criminal. Experiments 1 and 2 both replicate this effect and show that the label exerts its influence during the encoding of stereotypical faces and has little influence at test. These findings indicate that semantic information that is congruent with novel stereotypical faces facilitates their encoding.