Memory's forgotten process: What happened to the man on the bus?

Abstract

Neuroscience has examined the brain processes of recognizing and identifying a known person. But the process of integrating the representation of a temporarily unrecognised person with the representation of the familiar person is not yet known (e.g., as in Mandler's butcher on the bus). This process is one of identification; the stranger (man on the bus) has to be seen as identical to the old acquaintance (butcher from the supermarket). Our fMRI experiment contrasts this case of belated recognition with immediate recognition. The results show stronger activation of left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) for identification over pure recognition. The data are discussed under the mental files framework providing an important extension to current person recognition paradigms.