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Ritchie KL, Carragher DJ, Davis JP, Read K, Jenkins RE, Noyes E, Gray KLH, Hancock PJB. Face masks and fake masks: the effect of real and superimposed masks on face matching with super-recognisers, typical observers, and algorithms. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2024; 9:5. [PMID: 38302820 PMCID: PMC10834892 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-024-00532-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Mask wearing has been required in various settings since the outbreak of COVID-19, and research has shown that identity judgements are difficult for faces wearing masks. To date, however, the majority of experiments on face identification with masked faces tested humans and computer algorithms using images with superimposed masks rather than images of people wearing real face coverings. In three experiments we test humans (control participants and super-recognisers) and algorithms with images showing different types of face coverings. In all experiments we tested matching concealed or unconcealed faces to an unconcealed reference image, and we found a consistent decrease in face matching accuracy with masked compared to unconcealed faces. In Experiment 1, typical human observers were most accurate at face matching with unconcealed images, and poorer for three different types of superimposed mask conditions. In Experiment 2, we tested both typical observers and super-recognisers with superimposed and real face masks, and found that performance was poorer for real compared to superimposed masks. The same pattern was observed in Experiment 3 with algorithms. Our results highlight the importance of testing both humans and algorithms with real face masks, as using only superimposed masks may underestimate their detrimental effect on face identification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kay L Ritchie
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK.
| | - Daniel J Carragher
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Josh P Davis
- School of Human Sciences, Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK
| | - Katie Read
- School of Human Sciences, Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK
| | - Ryan E Jenkins
- School of Human Sciences, Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK
| | - Eilidh Noyes
- School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK
| | - Katie L H Gray
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Peter J B Hancock
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
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2
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Stantić M, Brown K, Ichijo E, Pounder Z, Catmur C, Bird G. Independent measurement of face perception, face matching, and face memory reveals impairments in face perception and memory, but not matching, in autism. Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:2240-2249. [PMID: 37312015 PMCID: PMC10728234 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02304-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Multiple psychological processes are required in order for a face to be recognised from memory. However, when testing face memory using tasks such as the Cambridge Face Memory Task (CFMT), it is rare for studies to attempt to account for individual differences in face perception and face matching in order to isolate variance in face memory specifically. In Study 1, the Oxford Face Matching Test (OFMT) was used to assess face matching and face perception in a large sample of participants (N = 1,112). Results revealed independent contributions of face perception and matching to CFMT performance, and these results replicated with the Glasgow Face Matching Test. In Study 2, the same procedure was used to test face perception, face matching and face memory in a group of 57 autistic adults and a matched neurotypical control group. Results revealed impaired face perception and memory in the individuals with autism, but intact face matching. Face perception may therefore act as a potential intervention target for individuals with autism who exhibit face recognition impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirta Stantić
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Katie Brown
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Eri Ichijo
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Zoë Pounder
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Geoffrey Bird
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
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3
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Vignesh Baalaji S, Sandhya S, Sajidha SA, Nisha VM, Vimalapriya MD, Tyagi AK. Autonomous face mask detection using single shot multibox detector, and ResNet-50 with identity retrieval through face matching using deep siamese neural network. J Ambient Intell Humaniz Comput 2023; 14:1-11. [PMID: 37360778 PMCID: PMC10246526 DOI: 10.1007/s12652-023-04624-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a global health challenge. The World Health Organization states that face masks are proven to be effective, especially in public areas. Real-time monitoring of face masks is challenging and exhaustive for humans. To reduce human effort and to provide an enforcement mechanism, an autonomous system has been proposed to detect non-masked people and retrieve their identity using computer vision. The proposed method introduces a novel and efficient method that involves fine-tuning the pre-trained ResNet-50 model with a new head layer for classification between masked and non-masked people. The classifier is trained using adaptive momentum optimization algorithm with decaying learning rate and binary cross-entropy loss. Data augmentation and dropout regularization are employed to achieve best convergence. During real-time application of our classifier on videos, a Caffe face detector model based on Single Shot MultiBox Detector is used to extract the face regions of interest from each frame, on which the trained classifier is applied for detecting the non-masked people. The faces of these people are then captured, which is passed on to a deep siamese neural network, based on VGG-Face model for face matching. The captured faces are compared with the reference images from the database, by extracting the features and calculating cosine distance. If the faces match, the details of that person are retrieved from the database and displayed on the web application. The proposed method has secured best results where the trained classifier has achieved 99.74% accuracy, and the identity retrieval model achieved 98.24% accuracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Vignesh Baalaji
- Present Address: School of Compter Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
| | - S. Sandhya
- Present Address: School of Compter Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
| | - S. A. Sajidha
- Present Address: School of Compter Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
| | - V. M. Nisha
- Present Address: School of Compter Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
| | - M. D. Vimalapriya
- Post Graduate Department of Computer Science and Technology, Women’s Christian College, Chennai, India
| | - Amit Kumar Tyagi
- Present Address: School of Compter Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
- Present Address: Department of Fashion Technology, National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, India
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Estudillo AJ, Lee YJ, Álvarez-Montesinos JA, García-Orza J. High-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation enhances unfamiliar face matching of high resolution and pixelated faces. Brain Cogn 2023; 165:105937. [PMID: 36462222 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Revised: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Face identification is useful for social interactions and its impairment can lead to severe social and mental problems. This ability is also remarkably important in applied settings, including eyewitness identification and ID verification. Several studies have demonstrated the potential of Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS) to enhance different cognitive skills. However, research has produced inconclusive results about the effectiveness of tRNS to improve face identification. The present study aims to further explore the effect of tRNS on face identification using an unfamiliar face matching task. Observers firstly received either high-frequency bilateral tRNS or sham stimulation for 20 min. The stimulation targeted occipitotemporal areas, which have been previously involved in face processing. In a subsequent stage, observers were asked to perform an unfamiliar face matching task consisting of unaltered and pixelated face pictures. Compared to the sham stimulation group, the high-frequency tRNS group showed better unfamiliar face matching performance with both unaltered and pixelated faces. Our results show that a single high-frequency tRNS session might suffice to improve face identification abilities. These results have important consequences for the treatment of face recognition disorders, and potential applications in those scenarios whereby the identification of faces is primordial.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ye Ji Lee
- University of Nottingham Malaysia, Malaysia
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5
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Kramer RSS. Face matching and metacognition: investigating individual differences and a training intervention. PeerJ 2023; 11:e14821. [PMID: 36718455 PMCID: PMC9884031 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Although researchers have begun to consider metacognitive insight during face matching, little is known about the underlying mechanism. Here, I investigated whether objective ability, as well as self-assessed ability, were able to predict metacognitive performance, that is, the ability to differentiate correct and incorrect responses in terms of confidence. In addition, I considered whether a training intervention resulted in improvements to both face matching performance and metacognitive insight. Methods In this experiment (N = 220), participants completed a face matching task, with either a diagnostic feature training course or a control course presented at the halfway point. In addition, a second face matching task, as well as a self-report questionnaire regarding ability, were completed to provide measures of objective and self-assessed ability respectively. Results Higher self-assessed ability with faces, as well as higher objective ability with face matching, predicted better metacognitive performance, i.e., greater confidence in correct, in comparison with incorrect, responses. This pattern of results was evident both when objective ability was measured through performance on the same task used to measure metacognitive insight and when a different task was used. Finally, the training intervention failed to produce improvements in face matching performance and showed no evidence of altering metacognitive ability. Discussion The current work begins to address the mechanism underlying individual differences in metacognitive insight during face matching. Although support was provided for a competence-based account, where better face matchers showed greater performance on the task and were more successful in monitoring their performance, further work might focus on decoupling task performance and competence in order to more conclusively explain why some people are more insightful than others.
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Stantić M, Pounder Z, Bate S, Susilo T, Catmur C, Bird G. Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia show independent impairments in face perception, face memory and face matching. Cortex 2022; 157:266-73. [PMID: 36368179 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) all exhibit impairments in face memory, but the specificity of these face memory impairments is debated. One problem is that standard behavioural tasks are not able to provide independent measurement of face perception, face memory, and face matching (the decision process required to judge whether two instances of a face are of the same individual or different individuals). The present study utilised a new test of face matching, the Oxford Face Matching Test (OFMT), and a novel analysis strategy to derive these independent indices. Twenty-nine individuals with DP and the same number of matched neurotypical controls completed the OFMT, the Glasgow Face Matching Test, and the Cambridge Face Memory Test. Results revealed individuals with DP exhibit impairments in face perception, face memory and face matching. Collectively, these results suggest that face processing impairments in DP are more comprehensive than has previously been suggested.
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Carragher DJ, Towler A, Mileva VR, White D, Hancock PJB. Masked face identification is improved by diagnostic feature training. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2022; 7:30. [PMID: 35380315 PMCID: PMC8980792 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-022-00381-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
To slow the spread of COVID-19, many people now wear face masks in public. Face masks impair our ability to identify faces, which can cause problems for professional staff who identify offenders or members of the public. Here, we investigate whether performance on a masked face matching task can be improved by training participants to compare diagnostic facial features (the ears and facial marks)—a validated training method that improves matching performance for unmasked faces. We show this brief diagnostic feature training, which takes less than two minutes to complete, improves matching performance for masked faces by approximately 5%. A control training course, which was unrelated to face identification, had no effect on matching performance. Our findings demonstrate that comparing the ears and facial marks is an effective means of improving face matching performance for masked faces. These findings have implications for professions that regularly perform face identification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Carragher
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK. .,School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia.
| | - Alice Towler
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Viktoria R Mileva
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK
| | - David White
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Peter J B Hancock
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK
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8
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Abstract
The Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT) is a paper-and-pen task that is traditionally used to assess face perception skills in neurological, clinical and psychiatric conditions. Despite criticisms of its stimuli, the task enjoys a simple procedure and is rapid to administer. Further, it has recently been computerised (BFRT-c), allowing reliable measurement of completion times and the need for online testing. Here, in response to calls for repeat screening for the accurate detection of face processing deficits, we present the BFRT-Revised (BFRT-r): a new version of the BFRT-c that maintains the task's basic paradigm, but employs new, higher-quality stimuli that reflect recent theoretical advances in the field. An initial validation study with typical participants indicated that the BFRT-r has good internal reliability and content validity. A second investigation indicated that while younger and older participants had comparable accuracy, completion times were longer in the latter, highlighting the need for age-matched norms. Administration of the BFRT-r and BFRT-c to 32 individuals with developmental prosopagnosia resulted in improved sensitivity in diagnostic screening for the BFRT-r compared to the BFRT-c. These findings are discussed in relation to current diagnostic screening protocols for face perception deficits. The BFRT-r is stored in an open repository and is freely available to other researchers.
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9
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Fysh MC, Ramon M. Accurate but inefficient: Standard face identity matching tests fail to identify prosopagnosia. Neuropsychologia 2021; 165:108119. [PMID: 34919897 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Revised: 11/24/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
In recent years, the number of face identity matching tests in circulation has grown considerably and these are being increasingly utilized to study individual differences in face cognition. Although many of these tests were designed for testing typical observers, recent studies have begun to utilize general-purpose tests for studying specific, atypical populations (e.g., super-recognizers and individuals with prosopagnosia). In this study, we examined the capacity of four tests requiring binary face-matching decisions to study individual differences between healthy observers. Uniquely, we used performance of the patient PS (Rossion, 2018), a well-documented case of acquired prosopagnosia (AP), as a benchmark. Two main findings emerged: (i) PS could exhibit typical rates of accuracy in all tests; (ii) compared to age-matched controls and when considering both accuracy and speed to account for potential trade-offs, only the KFMT - but not the EFCT, PICT or GFMT - was able to detect PS's severe impairment. These findings reflect the importance of considering both accuracy and response times to measure individual differences in face matching, and the need for comparing tests in terms of their sensitivity, when used as a measure of human cognition and brain functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew C Fysh
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom
| | - Meike Ramon
- Applied Face Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
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10
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Mishra MV, Fry RM, Saad E, Arizpe JM, Ohashi YGB, DeGutis JM. Comparing the sensitivity of face matching assessments to detect face perception impairments. Neuropsychologia 2021; 163:108067. [PMID: 34673046 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Revised: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Numerous neurological, developmental, and psychiatric conditions demonstrate impaired face recognition, which can be socially debilitating. These impairments can be caused by either deficient face perception or face memory mechanisms. Though there are well-validated, sensitive measures of face memory impairments, it currently remains unclear which assessments best measure face perception impairments. A sensitive, validated face perception measure could help with diagnosing causes of face recognition deficits and be useful in characterizing individual differences in unimpaired populations. Here, we compared the computerized Benton Face Recognition Test (BFRT-c) and Cambridge Face Perception Test (CFPT) in their ability to differentiate developmental prosopagnosics (DPs, N = 30) and age-matched controls (N = 30). Participants completed the BFRT-c, CFPT, and two additional face perception assessments: the University of Southern California Face Perception Test (USCFPT) and a novel same/different face matching test (SDFMT). Participants were also evaluated on objective and subjective face recognition tasks including the Cambridge Face Memory Test, famous faces test, and Prosopagnosia Index-20. We performed a logistic regression with the perception tests predicting DP vs. control group membership and used multiple linear regressions to predict continuous objective and subjective face recognition memory. Our results show that the BFRT-c performed as well as, if not better than, the CFPT, and that both tests clearly outperformed the USCFPT and SDFMT. Further, exploratory analyses revealed that face lighting-change conditions better predicted DP group membership and face recognition abilities than viewpoint-change conditions. Together, these results support the combined use of the BFRT-c and CFPT to best assess face perception impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maruti V Mishra
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare, Jamaica Plain Division, 150 S Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Regan M Fry
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare, Jamaica Plain Division, 150 S Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elyana Saad
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joseph M Arizpe
- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Fort Sam Houston, TX, USA
| | - Yuri-Grace B Ohashi
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Harvard Decision Science Laboratory, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Joseph M DeGutis
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare, Jamaica Plain Division, 150 S Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, USA.
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Moreton R, Havard C, Strathie A, Pike G. An international survey of applied face-matching training courses. Forensic Sci Int 2021; 327:110947. [PMID: 34454379 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Face matching decisions in applied settings are typically carried out by trained face-matching professionals, known as facial reviewers and facial examiners. Recent research has demonstrated that short professional face-matching training courses are limited in improving face-matching accuracy, however, despite the existence of high-level training guidelines produced by the practitioner community the content, duration and delivery of training for facial reviewers and facial examiners are not widely understood in the academic research community. The current study aimed to address this gap in the scientific literature to better understand how different agencies train facial reviewers and facial examiners, using results collected from an international survey. The survey included questions on the duration, delivery and content of an agencies face-matching training. 24 face-matching agencies from five continents took part in the survey. A quantitative analysis of the survey results revealed that at the group level facial examiners received longer durations of training, covering more topics than reviewers and more frequently included one-to-one mentoring. However, the survey revealed large differences in the duration, delivery methods and content of training by individual agencies at both the facial review and facial examiner level and low inclusion of evidence-based training practices. These results should help researchers to better understand the diversity in training practices and durations of training between different agencies and may help explain the individual differences observed in the performance of face matching professionals in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reuben Moreton
- School of Psychology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
| | - Catriona Havard
- School of Psychology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Ailsa Strathie
- School of Psychology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Graham Pike
- School of Psychology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
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12
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Davis JP, Dray C, Petrov N, Belanova E. Low prevalence match and mismatch detection in simultaneous face matching: Influence of face recognition ability and feature focus guidance. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 83:2937-54. [PMID: 34386883 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02348-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Simultaneous face matching to verify identity is key to security and policing. However, matching is error-prone, particularly when target-item prevalence is low. Two experiments examined whether superior face recognition ability and the use of internal or external facial feature guidance scales would reduce low prevalence effects. In Experiment 1, super-recognisers (n = 317) significantly outperformed typical-ability controls (n = 452), while internal feature guidance enhanced accuracy across all prevalence conditions. However, an unexpected effect in controls revealed higher accuracy in low prevalence conditions, probably because no low-match or low-mismatch prevalence information was provided. In Experiment 2, top-end-of-typical range ability participants (n = 841) were informed of their low prevalence condition and demonstrated the expected low-prevalence effects. Findings and implications are discussed.
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13
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Boutet I, Meinhardt-Injac B. Measurement of individual differences in face-identity processing abilities in older adults. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2021; 6:48. [PMID: 34275050 PMCID: PMC8286909 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-021-00310-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Face-identity processing declines with age. Few studies have examined whether face-identity processing abilities can be measured independently from general cognitive abilities in older adults (OA). This question has practical implications for the assessment of face-identity processing abilities in OA and theoretical implications for the notion of face processing as a specific ability. The present study examined the specificity of face memory and face matching abilities in OA aged 50 + . METHODS Performance of younger adults (YA) and OA was measured on face tasks: Cambridge Face Memory Task (CFMT), the Glasgow Face Matching Task (GFMT), holistic processing; and tasks of general cognition: fluid intelligence, selective attention, and mental rotation. Data were analyzed using multiple regression models encompassing (i) the CFMT/GFMT and measures of general cognition; and (ii) all face processing tasks. RESULTS Across the two age groups, models encompassing all face tasks were significant and accounted for more variance in the data than models encompassing the CFMT/GFMT and measures of general cognition. General cognitive abilities accounted for 17% of variance for the GFMT (p < 0.01) and 3% for the CFMT (p > 0.05). DISCUSSION Our results suggest that face memory can be measured independently from general cognition using the CFMT in OA. Implications for the notion of a general face processing factor across the adult lifespan are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Bozana Meinhardt-Injac
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Applied Sciences Berlin (KHSB), Köpenicker Allee 39-57, 10318, Berlin, Germany.
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14
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Abstract
Matching unfamiliar faces is a well-studied task, apparently capturing important everyday decisions such as ID checks. In typical laboratory studies, participants make same/different judgements to pairs of faces, presented in isolation and without context. However, it has recently become clear that matching faces embedded in documents (e.g., passports and driving licences) induces a bias, resulting in elevated levels of “same person” responses. While practically important, it remains unclear whether this bias arises due to expectations induced by the ID cards or interference between textual information and faces. Here, we observe the same bias when faces are embedded in blank (i.e., non-authoritative) cards carrying basic personal information, but not when the same information is presented alongside a face without the card (Experiments 1 and 2). Cards bearing unreadable text (blurred or in an unfamiliar alphabet) do not induce the bias, but those bearing arbitrary (non-biographical) words do (Experiments 3 and 4). The results suggest a complex basis for the effect, relying on multiple factors which happen to converge in photo-ID.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinran Feng
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
| | - A Mike Burton
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
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15
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Ritchie KL, Kramer RSS, Mileva M, Sandford A, Burton AM. Multiple-image arrays in face matching tasks with and without memory. Cognition 2021; 211:104632. [PMID: 33621739 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that exposure to within-person variability facilitates face learning. A different body of work has examined potential benefits of providing multiple images in face matching tasks. Viewers are asked to judge whether a target face matches a single face image (as when checking photo-ID) or multiple face images of the same person. The evidence here is less clear, with some studies finding a small multiple-image benefit, and others finding no advantage. In four experiments, we address this discrepancy in the benefits of multiple images from learning and matching studies. We show that multiple-image arrays only facilitate face matching when arrays precede targets. Unlike simultaneous face matching tasks, sequential matching and learning tasks involve memory and require abstraction of a stable representation of the face from the array, for subsequent comparison with a target. Our results show that benefits from multiple-image arrays occur only when this abstraction is required, and not when array and target images are available at once. These studies reconcile apparent differences between face learning and face matching and provide a theoretical framework for the study of within-person variability in face perception.
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Stacchi L, Huguenin-Elie E, Caldara R, Ramon M. Normative data for two challenging tests of face matching under ecological conditions. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2020; 5:8. [PMID: 32076893 PMCID: PMC7031457 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-019-0205-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Accepted: 12/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Background Unfamiliar face processing is an ability that varies considerably between individuals. Numerous studies have aimed to identify its underlying determinants using controlled experimental procedures. While such tests can isolate variables that influence face processing, they usually involve somewhat unrealistic situations and optimized face images as stimulus material. As a consequence, the extent to which the performance observed under laboratory settings is informative for predicting real-life proficiency remains unclear. Results We present normative data for two ecologically valid but underused tests of face matching: the Yearbook Test (YBT) and the Facial Identity Card Sorting Test (FICST). The YBT (n = 252) measures identity matching across substantial age-related changes in facial appearance, while the FICST (n = 218) assesses the ability to process unfamiliar facial identity despite superficial image variations. To determine the predictive value of both tests, a subsample of our cohort (n = 181) also completed a commonly used test of face recognition and two tests of face perception (the long form of the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT+), the Expertise in Facial Comparison Test (EFCT) and the Person Identification Challenge Test (PICT)). Conclusions Focusing on the top performers identified independently per test, we made two important observations: 1) YBT and FICST performance can predict CFMT+ scores and vice versa; and 2) EFCT and PICT scores neither reliably predict superior performance in ecologically meaningful and challenging tests of face matching, nor in the most commonly used test of face recognition. These findings emphasize the necessity for using challenging and ecologically relevant, and thus highly sensitive, tasks of unfamiliar face processing to identify high-performing individuals in the normal population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Stacchi
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Eva Huguenin-Elie
- Applied Face Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Roberto Caldara
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Meike Ramon
- Applied Face Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
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17
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Davis JP, Maigut A, Forrest C. The wisdom of the crowd: A case of post- to ante-mortem face matching by police super-recognisers. Forensic Sci Int 2019; 302:109910. [PMID: 31421920 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.109910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Revised: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This case report describes novel methodology used to identify a 43-year-old post-mortem photo of a drowned male recovered from a London river in the 1970s. Embedded in an array of foils, police super-recognisers (n=25) possessing superior simultaneous face matching ability, and police controls (n=139) provided confidence ratings as to the similarity of the post-mortem photo to an ante-mortem photo of a man who went missing at about the same time. Indicative of a match, compared to controls, super-recognisers provided higher ratings to the target than the foils. Effects were enhanced when drawing on the combined wisdom of super-recogniser crowds, but not control crowds. These findings supported additional case evidence allowing the coroner to rule that the deceased male and missing male were likely one and the same person. A description of how similar super-recogniser wisdom of the crowd procedures could be applied to other visual image identification cases when no other method is feasible is provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josh P Davis
- Department of Psychology, Social Work and Counselling, University of Greenwich, London, SE10 9LS, United Kingdom.
| | - Andreea Maigut
- Department of Psychology, Social Work and Counselling, University of Greenwich, London, SE10 9LS, United Kingdom.
| | - Charlotte Forrest
- Department of Psychology, Social Work and Counselling, University of Greenwich, London, SE10 9LS, United Kingdom.
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18
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Kramer RSS, Mireku MO, Flack TR, Ritchie KL. Face morphing attacks: Investigating detection with humans and computers. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2019; 4:28. [PMID: 31359213 PMCID: PMC6663958 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-019-0181-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2019] [Accepted: 06/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Background In recent years, fraudsters have begun to use readily accessible digital manipulation techniques in order to carry out face morphing attacks. By submitting a morph image (a 50/50 average of two people’s faces) for inclusion in an official document such as a passport, it might be possible that both people sufficiently resemble the morph that they are each able to use the resulting genuine ID document. Limited research with low-quality morphs has shown that human detection rates were poor but that training methods can improve performance. Here, we investigate human and computer performance with high-quality morphs, comparable with those expected to be used by criminals. Results Over four experiments, we found that people were highly error-prone when detecting morphs and that training did not produce improvements. In a live matching task, morphs were accepted at levels suggesting they represent a significant concern for security agencies and detection was again error-prone. Finally, we found that a simple computer model outperformed our human participants. Conclusions Taken together, these results reinforce the idea that advanced computational techniques could prove more reliable than training people when fighting these types of morphing attacks. Our findings have important implications for security authorities worldwide. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s41235-019-0181-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin S S Kramer
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK.
| | - Michael O Mireku
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK
| | - Tessa R Flack
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK
| | - Kay L Ritchie
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK
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19
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Bobak AK, Mileva VR, Hancock PJB. A grey area: how does image hue affect unfamiliar face matching? Cogn Res Princ Implic 2019; 4:27. [PMID: 31332556 PMCID: PMC6646495 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-019-0174-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The role of image colour in face identification has received little attention in research despite the importance of identifying people from photographs in identity documents (IDs). Here, in two experiments, we investigated whether colour congruency of two photographs, shown side by side, affects face-matching accuracy. Participants were presented with two images from the Models Face Matching Test (experiment 1) and a newly devised matching task incorporating female faces (experiment 2) and asked to decide whether they show the same person or two different people. The photographs were either both in colour, both in grayscale, or mixed (one in grayscale and one in colour). Participants were more likely to accept a pair of images as a “match”, i.e. same person, in the mixed condition, regardless of whether the identity of the pair was the same or not. This demonstrates a clear shift in bias between “congruent” colour conditions and the mixed trials. In addition, there was a small decline in accuracy in the mixed condition, relative to when the images were presented in colour. Our study provides the first evidence that the hue of document photographs matters for face-matching performance. This finding has important implications for the design and regulation of photographic ID worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna K Bobak
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Cottrell Building, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK.
| | - Viktoria R Mileva
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Cottrell Building, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Peter J B Hancock
- Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Cottrell Building, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
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20
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Bate S, Dudfield G. Subjective assessment for super recognition: an evaluation of self-report methods in civilian and police participants. PeerJ 2019; 7:e6330. [PMID: 30723622 PMCID: PMC6360075 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 12/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Metacognition about face recognition has been much discussed in the psychological literature. In particular, the use of self-report to identify people with prosopagnosia (“face blindness”) has contentiously been debated. However, no study to date has specifically assessed metacognition at the top end of the spectrum. If people with exceptionally proficient face recognition skills (“super-recognizers,” SRs) have greater insight into their abilities, self-report instruments may offer an efficient means of reducing candidate lists in SR screening programs. Here, we developed a “super-recognizer questionnaire” (SRQ), calibrated using a top-end civilian sample (Experiment 1). We examined its effectiveness in identifying SRs in pools of police (Experiment 2) and civilian (Experiment 3) participants, using objective face memory and matching tests. Moderate effect sizes in both samples suggest limited insight into face memory and target-present face matching ability, whereas the only predictor of target-absent matching performance across all samples was the number of years that an officer had been in the police force. Because the SRQ and single-item ratings showed little sensitivity in discriminating SRs from typical perceivers in police officers and civilians, we recommend against the use of self-report instruments in SR screening programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Bate
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
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21
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Lander K, Bruce V, Bindemann M. Use-inspired basic research on individual differences in face identification: implications for criminal investigation and security. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2018; 3:26. [PMID: 29984301 PMCID: PMC6021459 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-018-0115-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
This journal is dedicated to "use-inspired basic research" where a problem in the world shapes the hypotheses for study in the laboratory. This review considers the role of individual variation in face identification and the challenges and opportunities this presents in security and criminal investigations. We show how theoretical work conducted on individual variation in face identification has, in part, been stimulated by situations presented in the real world. In turn, we review the contribution of theoretical work on individual variation in face processing and how this may help shape the practical identification of faces in applied situations. We consider two cases in detail. The first case is that of security officers; gatekeepers who use facial ID to grant entry or deny access. One applied example, where much research has been conducted, is passport control officers who are asked to match a person in front of them to a photograph shown on their ID. What happens if they are poor at making such face matching decisions and can they be trained to improve their performance? Second, we outline the case of "super-recognisers", people who are excellent at face recognition. Here it is interesting to consider whether these individuals can be strategically allocated to security and criminal roles, to maximise the identification of suspects. We conclude that individual differences are one of the largest documented sources of error in face matching and face recognition but more work is needed to account for these differences within theoretical models of face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Lander
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
| | - Vicki Bruce
- School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK
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22
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Robertson DJ, Mungall A, Watson DG, Wade KA, Nightingale SJ, Butler S. Detecting morphed passport photos: a training and individual differences approach. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2018; 3:27. [PMID: 30046650 PMCID: PMC6028877 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-018-0113-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2017] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Our reliance on face photos for identity verification is at odds with extensive research which shows that matching pairs of unfamiliar faces is highly prone to error. This process can therefore be exploited by identity fraudsters seeking to deceive ID checkers (e.g., using a stolen passport which contains an image of a similar looking individual to deceive border control officials). In this study we build on previous work which sought to quantify the threat posed by a relatively new type of fraud: morphed passport photos. Participants were initially unaware of the presence of morphs in a series of face photo arrays and were simply asked to detect which images they thought had been digitally manipulated (i.e., "images that didn't look quite right"). All participants then received basic information on morph fraud and rudimentary guidance on how to detect such images, followed by a morph detection training task (Training Group, n = 40), or a non-face control task (Guidance Group, n = 40). Participants also completed a post-guidance/training morph detection task and the Models Face Matching Test (MFMT). Our findings show that baseline morph detection rates were poor, that morph detection training significantly improved the identification of these images over and above basic guidance, and that accuracy in the mismatch condition of the MFMT correlated with morph detection ability. The results are discussed in relation to potential countermeasures for morph-based identity fraud.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J. Robertson
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1QE UK
| | - Andrew Mungall
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1QE UK
| | | | | | | | - Stephen Butler
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1QE UK
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23
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Abstract
Automatic facial recognition is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in security contexts such as passport control. Currently, Automated Border Crossing (ABC) systems in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) require supervision from a human operator who validates correct identity judgments and overrules incorrect decisions. As the accuracy of this human-computer interaction remains unknown, this research investigated how human validation is impacted by a priori face-matching decisions such as those made by automated face recognition software. Observers matched pairs of faces that were already labeled onscreen as depicting the same identity or two different identities. The majority of these labels provided information that was consistent with the stimuli presented, but some were also inconsistent or provided "unresolved" information. Across three experiments, accuracy consistently deteriorated on trials that were inconsistently labeled, indicating that observers' face-matching decisions are biased by external information such as that provided by ABCs.
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24
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Infants and children travel using passports that are typically valid for five years (e.g. Canada, United Kingdom, United States and Australia). These individuals may also need to be identified using images taken from videos and other sources in forensic situations including child exploitation cases. However, few researchers have examined how useful these images are as a means of identification. METHODS We investigated the effectiveness of photo identification for infants and children using a face matching task, where participants were presented with two images simultaneously and asked whether the images depicted the same child or two different children. In Experiment 1, both images showed an infant (<1 year old), whereas in Experiment 2, one image again showed an infant but the second image of the child was taken at 4-5 years of age. In Experiments 3a and 3b, we asked participants to complete shortened versions of both these tasks (selecting the most difficult trials) as well as the short version Glasgow face matching test. Finally, in Experiment 4, we investigated whether information regarding the sex of the infants and children could be accurately perceived from the images. RESULTS In Experiment 1, we found low levels of performance (72% accuracy) for matching two infant photos. For Experiment 2, performance was lower still (64% accuracy) when infant and child images were presented, given the significant changes in appearance that occur over the first five years of life. In Experiments 3a and 3b, when participants completed both these tasks, as well as a measure of adult face matching ability, we found lowest performance for the two infant tasks, along with mixed evidence of within-person correlations in sensitivities across all three tasks. The use of only same-sex pairings on mismatch trials, in comparison with random pairings, had little effect on performance measures. In Experiment 4, accuracy when judging the sex of infants was at chance levels for one image set and above chance (although still low) for the other set. As expected, participants were able to judge the sex of children (aged 4-5) from their faces. DISCUSSION Identity matching with infant and child images resulted in low levels of performance, which were significantly worse than for an adult face matching task. Taken together, the results of the experiments presented here provide evidence that child facial photographs are ineffective for use in real-world identification.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jerrica Mulgrew
- Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada
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25
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Kokje E, Bindemann M, Megreya AM. Cross-race correlations in the abilities to match unfamiliar faces. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 185:13-21. [PMID: 29407241 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2017] [Revised: 12/18/2017] [Accepted: 01/11/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The other-race effect in face identification has been documented widely in memory tasks, but it persists also in identity-matching tasks, in which memory contributions are minimized. Whereas this points to a perceptual locus for this effect, it remains unresolved whether matching performance with same- and other-race faces is driven by shared cognitive mechanisms. To examine this question, this study compared Arab and Caucasian observers' ability to match faces of their own race with their ability to match faces of another race using one-to-one (Experiment 1) and one-to-many (Experiment 2) identification tasks. Across both experiments, Arab and Caucasian observers demonstrated reliable other-race effects at a group level. At an individual level, substantial variation in accuracy was found, but performance with same-race and other-race faces correlated consistently and strongly. This indicates that the abilities to match same- and other-race faces share a common cognitive mechanism.
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26
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Abstract
Identity comparisons of photographs of unfamiliar faces are prone to error but imperative for security settings, such as the verification of face identities at passport control. Therefore, finding techniques to improve face-matching accuracy is an important contemporary research topic. This study investigates whether matching accuracy can be enhanced by verbal instructions that address feature comparisons or holistic processing. Findings demonstrate that feature-by-feature comparison strategy had no effect on face matching. In contrast, verbal instructions focused on holistic processing made face matching faster, but they impaired accuracy. Given the recent evidence for the heredity of face perception and the previously reported small or no improvements of face-matching ability, it seems reasonable to suggest that improving unfamiliar face matching is not an easy task, but it is presumably worthwhile to explore new methods for improvement nonetheless.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmed M Megreya
- Department of Psychological Sciences, College of Education, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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27
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Prete G, Marzoli D, Tommasi L. Upright or inverted, entire or exploded: right-hemispheric superiority in face recognition withstands multiple spatial manipulations. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1456. [PMID: 26644986 PMCID: PMC4671171 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2015] [Accepted: 11/09/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background. The ability to identify faces has been interpreted as a cerebral specialization based on the evolutionary importance of these social stimuli, and a number of studies have shown that this function is mainly lateralized in the right hemisphere. The aim of this study was to assess the right-hemispheric specialization in face recognition in unfamiliar circumstances. Methods. Using a divided visual field paradigm, we investigated hemispheric asymmetries in the matching of two subsequent faces, using two types of transformation hindering identity recognition, namely upside-down rotation and spatial “explosion” (female and male faces were fractured into parts so that their mutual spatial relations were left intact), as well as their combination. Results. We confirmed the right-hemispheric superiority in face processing. Moreover, we found a decrease of the identity recognition for more extreme “levels of explosion” and for faces presented upside-down (either as sample or target stimuli) than for faces presented upright, as well as an advantage in the matching of female compared to male faces. Discussion. We conclude that the right-hemispheric superiority for face processing is not an epiphenomenon of our expertise, because we are not often exposed to inverted and “exploded” faces, but rather a robust hemispheric lateralization. We speculate that these results could be attributable to the prevalence of right-handedness in humans and/or to early biases in social interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- Department of Psychological Science, Health and Territory, University of Chieti-Pescara , Chieti , Italy
| | - Daniele Marzoli
- Department of Psychological Science, Health and Territory, University of Chieti-Pescara , Chieti , Italy
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological Science, Health and Territory, University of Chieti-Pescara , Chieti , Italy
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28
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Alenezi HM, Bindemann M, Fysh MC, Johnston RA. Face matching in a long task: enforced rest and desk-switching cannot maintain identification accuracy. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1184. [PMID: 26312179 PMCID: PMC4548491 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2014] [Accepted: 07/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In face matching, observers have to decide whether two photographs depict the same person or different people. This task is not only remarkably difficult but accuracy declines further during prolonged testing. The current study investigated whether this decline in long tasks can be eliminated with regular rest-breaks (Experiment 1) or room-switching (Experiment 2). Both experiments replicated the accuracy decline for long face-matching tasks and showed that this could not be eliminated with rest or room-switching. These findings suggest that person identification in applied settings, such as passport control, might be particularly error-prone due to the long and repetitive nature of the task. The experiments also show that it is difficult to counteract these problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamood M Alenezi
- School of Psychology, University of Kent , UK ; Department of Education and Psychology, Northern Borders University , KSA
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29
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Ritchie KL, Smith FG, Jenkins R, Bindemann M, White D, Burton AM. Viewers base estimates of face matching accuracy on their own familiarity: Explaining the photo-ID paradox. Cognition 2015; 141:161-9. [PMID: 25988915 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2014] [Revised: 04/17/2015] [Accepted: 05/01/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Matching two different images of a face is a very easy task for familiar viewers, but much harder for unfamiliar viewers. Despite this, use of photo-ID is widespread, and people appear not to know how unreliable it is. We present a series of experiments investigating bias both when performing a matching task and when predicting other people's performance. Participants saw pairs of faces and were asked to make a same/different judgement, after which they were asked to predict how well other people, unfamiliar with these faces, would perform. In four experiments we show different groups of participants familiar and unfamiliar faces, manipulating this in different ways: celebrities in experiments 1-3 and personally familiar faces in experiment 4. The results consistently show that people match images of familiar faces more accurately than unfamiliar faces. However, people also reliably predict that the faces they themselves know will be more accurately matched by different viewers. This bias is discussed in the context of current theoretical debates about face recognition, and we suggest that it may underlie the continued use of photo-ID, despite the availability of evidence about its unreliability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kay L Ritchie
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK; Department of Psychology, University of York, England, UK
| | - Finlay G Smith
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
| | - Rob Jenkins
- Department of Psychology, University of York, England, UK
| | | | - David White
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia
| | - A Mike Burton
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK; Department of Psychology, University of York, England, UK.
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30
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Abstract
It has been previously established that extraverts who are skilled at interpersonal interaction perform significantly better than introverts on a face-specific recognition memory task. In our experiment we further investigate the relationship between extraversion and face recognition, focusing on famous face recognition and face matching. Results indicate that more extraverted individuals perform significantly better on an upright famous face recognition task and show significantly larger face inversion effects. However, our results did not find an effect of extraversion on face matching or inverted famous face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Lander
- a School of Psychological Sciences , University of Manchester , Manchester , UK
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31
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Kim JS, Jung WH, Kang DH, Park JY, Jang JH, Choi JS, Choi CH, Kim J, Kwon JS. Changes in effective connectivity according to working memory load: an FMRI study of face and location working memory tasks. Psychiatry Investig 2012; 9:283-92. [PMID: 22993529 PMCID: PMC3440479 DOI: 10.4306/pi.2012.9.3.283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2011] [Revised: 02/09/2012] [Accepted: 03/15/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The functional strategic mechanisms in the brain during performing visuospatial working memory tasks, especially tasks with heavy load, are controversial. We conducted the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while sixteen subjects were performing face- and location-matching n-back tasks to examine causal relations within the frontoparietal networks. METHODS We applied a sophisticated method, the structural equation modeling (SEM), to the fMRI data. The imaging data were analyzed by extracting the task-related eigenseries using the principal component analysis (PCA) and then by applying a form of data-driven model called the automated search method. RESULTS The SEM analyses revealed a functional shift of network connectivity from the right to the left hemisphere with increasing load in the face-matching n-back tasks while the location-matching tasks required bilateral activation. In the locating matching n-back tasks, a pattern of parallel processing was observed in the left phonological loop and the right inferior parietal regions. Furthermore, object working memory-related activities in the left hemisphere reliably contributed to performance of both the face- and location-matching 2-back tasks. CONCLUSION Our results are consistent with previous reports in terms of demonstrating parallel and distributed information processing during performing working memory tasks with heavy loads. Our results additionally suggest a dynamic shift between the fast imagery circuit (right hemisphere) and the stable verbal circuit (left hemisphere), depending on task load.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joon Shik Kim
- Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Wi Hoon Jung
- Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Do-Hyung Kang
- Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ji-Young Park
- Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Joon Hwan Jang
- Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung-Seok Choi
- Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Chi-Hoon Choi
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jejoong Kim
- Department of Psychology, Duksung Women's University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences-World Class University Program, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jun Soo Kwon
- Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences-World Class University Program, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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