Distinct mechanisms of configural face processing based on the preferred point of fixation on the face

Accurate face recognition relies on discerning subtle differences in the shapes (featural information) and relative positions (configural information) of facial features. When recognizing faces, most humans consistently land their first fixation on the face just below the eyes (upper lookers), but some individuals fixate closer to the mouth (lower lookers). Do differences in long-term eye movement strategies influence the ability to process featural and configural facial information? To investigate this, we tested face recognition in upper and lower lookers using specially designed face stimuli that isolated variation in featural or configural information across exemplars, while fixating either at the eye or mouth regions. We found that upper lookers had superior recognition for configural faces than lower lookers, especially when fixating on the eyes. Using single-feature faces, we found that the upper lookers’ advantage arises from efficient extraction of configural face information from the eye region.