THE POSITIVITY BIAS AND PERCEIVED FAMILIARITY: DO SMILING FACES INCREASE FALSE RECOLLECTIONS?

Abstract

An established body of research suggests that people are biased to perceive faces with positive expressions (e.g., smiling) as more familiar than neutral faces. Newer research suggests that sensing familiarity with something may drive people to confabulate reasons for their sense of familiarity, along with indicators of memory search effort and curiosity-driven information-seeking behaviors. The current study aimed to evaluate whether the established familiarity positivity bias for faces is associated with these patterns. Experiment 1 examined whether smiling faces would generate greater familiarity and more illusory recollection than neutral faces. Contrary to prior findings, there was no familiarity positivity bias (perceived familiarity was comparable for smiling and neutral faces). However, in line with familiarity-driven confabulation, familiarity ratings were positively associated with false recollection. Experiment 2 evaluated whether smiling faces would increase feelings of curiosity about a face’s identity compared to neutral faces. Smiling and neutral faces had comparable curiosity ratings and false recollection rates. Across the two experiments, item-based analyses revealed that faces that produced higher familiarity ratings also produced higher false recollection rates, and in Experiment 2, they also produced higher curiosity ratings. Although the familiarity positivity bias was not found, the familiarity-driven false recollection and curiosity found here provides further insight into the relationship between familiarity and the desire to explain why something feels familiar.