The Lasting Impression of Chairman Mao: Hyperfidelity of Familiar-Face Memory

We examined the accuracy of a highly-familiar-face representation in memory. In experiment 1, a famous portrait of Chairman Mao was digitally altered in terms of the distance between his two eyes, two pixels at a time. Mainland Chinese adults were shown the original or altered photos, one at a time, and asked to determine whether each was that of Chairman Mao or altered. Eastern Asian and Caucasian participants, who were unfamiliar with Mao's …