Contextual cues do not facilitate spontaneous face recognition

Most studies examining face recognition have used explicit recognition tasks, ignoring our ability to spontaneously recognize familiar faces when they are unexpected. The current study examined spontaneous recognition of a minor and major actor from the TV show Friends, and the extent to which spontaneous recognition is facilitated by contextual cues. In Experiment 1, we presented images of the minor actor in the context of an ongoing face-rating task. The background scene became increasingly informative across blocks. Only half of the participants spontaneously recognized the minor actor, with no influence of context. In Experiment 2, we primed the minor actor with images of a major actor from the same show. Participants were more likely to recognize the major actor than the minor actor, both spontaneously and when explicitly asked to do so. Neither the major actor prime nor the background context increased spontaneous recognition of the minor actor. We discuss constraints on spontaneous recognition and the implications of our findings for theoretical models.