Evidence for a general neural signature of face familiarity

Abstract We explored the neural signatures of face familiarity using cross-participant and cross-experiment decoding of event-related potentials, evoked by unknown and experimentally familiarized faces from a set of experiments with different participants, stimuli, and familiarization-types. Participants were either familiarized perceptually, via media exposure, or by personal interaction. We observed significant cross-experiment familiarity decoding involving all three experiments, predominantly over posterior and central regions of the right hemisphere in the 270 – 630 ms time window. This shared face familiarity effect was most prominent between the Media and Personal, as well as between the Perceptual and Personal experiments. Cross-experiment decodability makes this signal a strong candidate for a general neural indicator of face familiarity, independent of familiarization methods and stimuli. Furthermore, the sustained pattern of temporal generalization suggests that it reflects a single automatic processing cascade that is maintained over time. Highlights We investigated if a general neural signature of face familiarity exist A cross-experiment decoding analysis of EEG data was used The analysis involved perceptual, media and personal familiarization methods We found a preserved pattern of familiarity decoding across experiments between 270 and 630 ms post-stimulus This signature is consistent with previous reports on face familiarity effects