Remembered Together: recognition accuracy for visual features of interacting partners is enhanced in the presence of outgroup distractors, but decreased in the presence of ingroup distractors.

In previous research we have shown that Social Binding, a process similar to Gestalt Binding, leads to faster processing, spatial distortion and enhanced memory of interacting partners. In this set of experiments we further investigate the underlying mechanisms of Social Binding, particularly in relation to recognition accuracy of previously presented visual features. Recognition for visual features of individuals that were previously seen in the context of a social interaction is enhanced if they are to be discriminated from features of individuals that were part of different interactions. Such recognition is impaired, however, if an individuals’ features are to be discriminated from features of individuals that were part of the same interaction. This provides insight into how socially interacting individuals are processed and encoded. We further investigate the influence of different encoding strategies on recognition accuracy …