Abstract

MENDES, Ana Irene Fonseca; ARRAIS, Kátia Cruvinel  and  FUKUSIMA, Sérgio Sheiji. Prototypical faces from samples of the population of a Brazilian region. Psicol. Reflex. Crit. [online]. 2009, vol.22, n.2, pp. 261-268. ISSN 0102-7972.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79722009000200013.

The goal of this study was to generate male and female prototypical faces, by morphing technique, from faces of people who were self-declared as white, "mixed race" and black in Ribeirão Preto-SP. Each prototypical face was generated from 64 face images of volunteers. Another sample of volunteers judged the typicality of color/race of the prototypical faces and the faces that composed them. The results suggested a concordance between the self-declared color/race and the judgments, indicating that the prototypical faces are representative of their respective categories of color/race. Applications of the prototypical faces in studies of face perception and face recognition were discussed.

Keywords : Prototypical face; Face recognition; Attractiveness; Distinctiveness; Typicality.