Abstract
Numerous studies exemplify the holistic processing of faces. In recent years, several studies provided evidence showing the inversion effect and the composite face effect suggested that the holistic process worked in the recognition of facial expressions(Calder, et al., 2000; Calder & Jansen, 2005; Fallshore & Bartholow, 2003; White, 1999). These previous studies suggest that the recognition of a local face part is affected by the other facial part(s). This suggestion raises the possibility that the holistic emotional representation of face may illusory shift the neutral face part (such as neutral mouth, eyes or eyebrows) into expressive one. Here, I aimed at clarifying this question. In the result, I found that participants were mistaken to recognize a neutral facial part in a whole face as a part expressing emotion. This result is consistent with the previous studies which showed facial expressions are recognized holistically.
