Contemporary scientific literature is controversial about the two basic mechanisms that play a significant role in the identification and discrimination of facial expressions, that is, the analytic process (perceiving individual facial features) and the holistic process (perceiving the face as a Gestalt). Despite the large number of studies, the question of their relative contributions into the perception of facial expressions remains open. In the present study, we investigated the interaction of the analytic and holistic processing simultaneously using the methods of composite and inverted faces in the task of assessing the expression similarity. To achieve this goal, the method of multidimensional scaling was used to enable the construction of a subjective space of expression similarities and then to analyze the clustering of expressions under up-right and inverted exposure conditions. The results showed that: 1. In up-right conditions of face presentations holistic processing plays a more important role; 2. Under the inverted conditions, the role of analytic processing is increased that is manifested in a change of expression clustering in the subjective space of expression similarities; 3. The method of multidimensional scaling is productive for investigating the interaction of analytic and holistic encoding mechanisms of facial expressions; 4. Sharing methods of the composite and inverted faces is an effective tool for changing the impact of analytic and holistic processes in assessing expression similarities.