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The effect of distinctive facial features on destination memory
Author(s) -
Barros Catarina,
Albuquerque Pedro B.,
Pinto Raquel,
El Haj Mohamad
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/sjop.12734
Subject(s) - optimal distinctiveness theory , psychology , cognitive psychology , face (sociological concept) , task (project management) , feature (linguistics) , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy , management , economics
Destination memory involves remembering to whom we told information. Low accuracy of this memory is linked to higher self‐focus and lower attentional resources allocated to the recipient of the information. The present paper aimed to investigate whether the existence of distinctive features (e.g., tattoos) of destination face would improve destination memory, in a within‐ (Experiment 1 and 2) and between‐participants (Experiment 3) design. In a destination memory task, participants had to tell proverbs to faces that presented a distinctive feature and to other faces that did not. Results showed that a destination memory advantage only occurs when faces with different distinctive features are compared to faces without distinctive features (Experiment 1). These results are in accordance with the existing theoretical framework on destination memory and distinctiveness; highlighting the importance of personal attributes, namely, the distinctiveness of the destination face and the relativity of distinctiveness in destination memory.