configural

Configural is an adjective formed from configuration, used to describe matters related to the arrangement or structure of components within a system. In scholarly usage it signals that the properties or outcomes depend on the overall configuration rather than isolated parts.

In psychology and cognitive science, configural processing refers to perceiving and interpreting patterns by their overall arrangement, rather than by individual features. This is central to face recognition, where relationships among facial features and their spatial configuration contribute to recognition, as opposed to processing each feature separately.

In statistics and research methods, Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA) is a nonparametric technique for examining cross-tabulated data. It identifies configurations of variable categories that occur more or less frequently than expected by chance, highlighting typical and deviant patterns across cases. This CFA is distinct from the more widely known Confirmatory Factor Analysis, which uses parametric modeling.

In psychometrics, configural invariance denotes a level of measurement invariance where a factor structure is the same across groups, without imposing equality constraints on loadings or intercepts. Establishing configural invariance is a prerequisite for more restrictive invariance tests such as metric and scalar invariance.

Beyond psychology and statistics, the term appears in fields concerned with structure and arrangement, such as design and engineering, where a system's function depends on its configuration of components.