Configural

Configural is a term used in face perception literature that is used to describe the emergent features (eyes, ears, mouth, nose) of a face when two or more features are processed at the same time.

For instance, when visually processing both the eyes and mouth of a face, this would be considered configural processing. In addition to configural the terms relational and holistic are used in face perception terminology as well. Relational processing is a referral to context-based retrieval (remembering how the emergent traits relate to each other). Holistic processing refers to a "first-order" grouping process that distinguishes one face from another without focusing on any one trait or its grouping.