The perception of (naked only) bodies and faceless heads relies on holistic processing: Evidence from the inversion effect

Faces and bodies are more difficult to perceive when presented inverted than when
presented upright (i.e., stimulus inversion effect), an effect that has been attributed to the
disruption of holistic processing. The features that can trigger holistic processing in faces
and bodies, however, still remain elusive. In this study, using a sequential matching task, we
tested whether stimulus inversion affects various categories of visual stimuli: faces,
faceless heads, faceless heads in body context, headless bodies naked, whole bodies
naked, headless bodies clothed, and whole bodies clothed. Both accuracy and inversion
efficiency score results show inversion effects for all categories but for clothed bodies
(with and without heads). In addition, the magnitude of the inversion effect for face, naked
body, and faceless heads was similar. Our findings demonstrate that the perception of
faces, faceless heads, and naked bodies relies on holistic processing. Clothed bodies (with
and without heads), on the other side, may trigger clothes-sensitive rather than bodysensitive
perceptual mechanisms.