Shengjie Zheng¹, Eiko Shimojo², Shinsuke Shimojo³; ¹California Institute of Technology, ²California Institute of Technology, ³California Institute of Technology

Familiarity(F) and Novelty(N) preferences vary across object categories and individuals. While familiar faces are generally preferred over novel ones, the opposite is observed with natural scenes (Park et al., PNAS '10). We further investigated individual differences in F versus N  preferences, towards a new kind of personality profiling based on memory-affected preference choice behavior.  Fifteen adult participants (2 females, 13 males) performed a two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) preference task. Participants were presented with photo stimuli from four categories: faces, natural scenes, cars, and geometric figures. In each trial, one image was familiar from previous trials, while the other was novel, but always within the same subcategory (e.g., the same race, gender, and age for faces). The “old” stimulus was chosen as the median rank-order attractive, from a pilot attractiveness rating result, individually. Participants rated their preference using a 7-point scale. They completed questionnaires, including Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), positive life attitude (“Maemuki”), and familiarity/novelty preferences in daily activities.  Results indicated diverse F/N preferences across participants. Nine (out of total 15) participants replicated the trend from the previous study, preferring familiar faces but novel natural scenes. Only one participant showed consistent F preference, while another showed consistent N preference, across all the four object categories. Notably, there was a strong negative correlation between F/N preference and AQ scores (r=-0.66, P<0.01), indicating that individuals with higher autism spectrum tendencies strongly preferred novelty. A weak positive correlation was also found between “Maemuki” scores and F/N preference, indicating that individuals with a more positive and active lifestyle preferred novelty.  This study introduces a new type of personality profiling, linking memory effects on visual preference with individual traits and lifestyle. It successfully combines visual psychophysics and clinical/personality psychology, offering insights into ASD and preference behavior in daily life. 

Acknowledgements: The project was supported by JST/Moonshot Goal 9.