scholarly journals The COVID-19 pandemic masks the way people perceive faces

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erez Freud ◽  
Andreja Stajduhar ◽  
R. Shayna Rosenbaum ◽  
Galia Avidan ◽  
Tzvi Ganel
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Qualitative Change ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Human Face Recognition ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Partially Occluded ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe unprecedented efforts to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic introduce a new arena for human face recognition in which faces are partially occluded with masks. Here, we tested the extent to which face masks change the way faces are perceived. To this end, we evaluated face processing abilities for masked and unmasked faces in a large online sample of adult observers (n = 496) using an adapted version of the Cambridge Face Memory Test, a validated measure of face perception abilities in humans. As expected, a substantial decrease in performance was found for masked faces. Importantly, the inclusion of masks also led to a qualitative change in the way masked faces are perceived. In particular, holistic processing, the hallmark of face perception, was disrupted for faces with masks, as suggested by a reduced inversion effect. Similar changes were found whether masks were included during the study or the test phases of the experiment. Together, we provide novel evidence for quantitative and qualitative alterations in the processing of masked faces that could have significant effects on daily activities and social interactions.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 pandemic masks the way people perceive faces

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erez Freud ◽  
Andreja Stajduhar ◽  
R. Shayna Rosenbaum ◽  
Galia Avidan ◽  
Tzvi Ganel
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Qualitative Change ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Human Face Recognition ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Partially Occluded ◽  
Robust Evidence ◽  
The Way

The unprecedented effort to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic introduces a new arena for human face recognition in which faces are partially occluded with masks. Here, we tested the extent to which face masks change the way faces are perceived. To this end, we evaluated face processing abilities for masked and unmasked faces in a large online sample of adult observers (n=496) using an adapted version of the Cambridge Face Memory Test, the mostvalidated measure of face perception abilities in humans. As expected, a substantial decrease in performance was found for masked faces, along with a large increase in the proportion of individuals who exhibit a remarkable deficit in face perception. Unexpectedly, however, the inclusion of masks led to a qualitative change in the way masked faces are perceived. In particular, holistic processing, the hallmark of face perception, was severely impaired for maskedfaces. Similar changes were found when masks were included either during the study or the test phases of the experiment. Together, we provide robust evidence for qualitative alterations in the processing of masked faces that could have significant effects on daily activities and social interactions.

scholarly journals The worldwide public impact of identifying super-recognisers for police and business

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh P Davis
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Human Face Recognition ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Recognition Ability ◽  
Performance Patterns

Super-recognisers occupy the extreme top end of a wide spectrum of human face recognition ability. Although test scores provide evidence of super-recognisers’ quantitative superiority, their abilities may be driven by qualitatively different cognitive or neurological mechanisms. Some super-recognisers scoring exceptionally highly on multiple short-term face memory tests do not achieve superior performances on measures of simultaneous face matching, long term face memory and/or spotting faces in a crowd. Heterogeneous performance patterns have implications for police, security or business aiming to utilise super-recognisers’ superior skills. Drawing on a global participant base (n ≈ 6,000,000), as well as theory and empirical research, this paper describes the background, development, and employment of tests designed to measure four components of superior face processing to assist in recruitment and deployment decisions.

Neural and Behavioral Evidence for Infants' Sensitivity to the Trustworthiness of Faces

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1728-1736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Jessen ◽  
Tobias Grossmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Emotion Detection ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Facial Attributes ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
Behavioral Preference ◽  
Shed Light

Face evaluation is a key aspect of face processing in humans, serving important functions in regulating social interactions. Adults and preschool children readily evaluate faces with respect to a person's trustworthiness and dominance. However, it is unclear whether face evaluation is mainly a product of extensive learning or a foundational building block of face perception already during infancy. We examined infants' sensitivity to facial signs of trustworthiness (Experiment 1) and dominance (Experiment 2) by measuring ERPs and looking behavior in response to faces that varied with respect to the two facial attributes. Results revealed that 7-month-old infants are sensitive to facial signs of trustworthiness but not dominance. This sensitivity was reflected in infants' behavioral preference and in the modulation of brain responses previously linked to emotion detection from faces. These findings provide first evidence that processing faces with respect to trustworthiness has its origins in infancy and shed light on the behavioral and neural correlates of this early emerging sensitivity.

scholarly journals The Oxford Face Matching Test: A Non-Biased Test of The Full Range of Individual Differences in Face Perception

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirta Stantic ◽  
Rebecca Brewer ◽  
Brad Duchaine ◽  
Michael J. Banissy ◽  
Sarah Bate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Item Difficulty ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Matching Test ◽  
Processing Abilities

Tests of face processing are typically designed to identify individuals performing outside of the typical range; either prosopagnosic individuals who exhibit poor face processing ability, or super recognisers, who have superior face processing abilities. Here we describe the development of the Oxford Face Matching Test (OFMT), designed to identify individual differences in face processing across the full range of performance, from prosopagnosia, through the range of typical performance, to super recognisers. Such a test requires items of varying difficulty, but establishing difficulty is problematic when particular populations (e.g. prosopagnosics, individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder) may use atypical strategies to process faces. If item difficulty is calibrated on neurotypical individuals, then the test may be poorly calibrated for atypical groups, and vice versa. To obtain items of varying difficulty we used facial recognition algorithms to obtain face pair similarity ratings that are not biased towards specific populations. These face pairs were used as stimuli in the OFMT, and participants required to judge if the face images depicted the same individual or different individuals. Across five studies the OFMT was shown to be sensitive to individual differences in the typical population, and in groups of both prosopagnosic individuals and super recognisers. The test-retest reliability of the task was at least equivalent to the Cambridge Face Memory Test and the Glasgow Face Matching Test. Furthermore, results reveal, at least at the group level, that both face perception and face memory are poor in those with prosopagnosia, and good in super recognisers.

scholarly journals The Oxford Face Matching Test: A non-biased test of the full range of individual differences in face perception

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirta Stantic ◽  
Rebecca Brewer ◽  
Bradley Duchaine ◽  
Michael J. Banissy ◽  
Sarah Bate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Item Difficulty ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Matching Test ◽  
Processing Abilities

AbstractTests of face processing are typically designed to identify individuals performing outside of the typical range; either prosopagnosic individuals who exhibit poor face processing ability, or super recognisers, who have superior face processing abilities. Here we describe the development of the Oxford Face Matching Test (OFMT), designed to identify individual differences in face processing across the full range of performance, from prosopagnosia, through the range of typical performance, to super recognisers. Such a test requires items of varying difficulty, but establishing difficulty is problematic when particular populations (e.g., prosopagnosics, individuals with autism spectrum disorder) may use atypical strategies to process faces. If item difficulty is calibrated on neurotypical individuals, then the test may be poorly calibrated for atypical groups, and vice versa. To obtain items of varying difficulty, we used facial recognition algorithms to obtain face pair similarity ratings that are not biased towards specific populations. These face pairs were used as stimuli in the OFMT, and participants were required to judge whether the face images depicted the same individual or different individuals. Across five studies the OFMT was shown to be sensitive to individual differences in the typical population, and in groups of both prosopagnosic individuals and super recognisers. The test-retest reliability of the task was at least equivalent to the Cambridge Face Memory Test and the Glasgow Face Matching Test. Furthermore, results reveal, at least at the group level, that both face perception and face memory are poor in those with prosopagnosia, and are good in super recognisers.

scholarly journals On the development of human face-processing abilities: Evidence for hyperactivation of the extended face system in children

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 461-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Haist ◽  
M. Adamo ◽  
J. Han ◽  
K. Lee ◽  
J. Stiles
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Processing Abilities

Monkey and Human Face Perception: Inversion Effects for Human Faces But Not for Monkey Faces or Scenes

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony A. Wright ◽  
William A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Facial Hair ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Human Faces ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Inversion Effects

Three rhesus monkeys and two groups of 10 human subjects judged upright or inverted pictures as same or different. The pictures were black and white pairs of human faces, monkey faces, or scenes. The monkeys were trained with sets of 50 pictures and were tested with other sets of 36 pictures from each category. The groups of 10 human subjects were tested with the same pictures used to test monkeys. Both monkeys and humans showed large performance decrements to inverted human faces relative to upright human faces but neither species showed inversion effects for monkey faces or scenes. A second test with both monkeys and humans showed the same pattern of results with a different set of human-face pictures that varied more in sex (female as well as male), facial hair, eyeglasses, haircut, view angle, and background than those of the first test. The results indicate similar face-processing mechanisms in monkeys and humans despite experiential and evolutionary differences.

scholarly journals Robot Face Memorability is Affected by Uncanny Appearance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allie Geiger ◽  
Benjamin Balas
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Study Phase ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Human Face Recognition ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Face Images ◽  
Human Faces

Human face recognition is influenced by various social and environmental constructs. For example, both age and race can affect the likelihood that a human face will be correctly recalled. Interestingly, general face appearance (i.e. friendly or untrustworthy faces) can also influence memorability. As human-robot interaction (HRI) becomes more commonplace, understanding what factors influence face recognition for non-human social agents is increasingly important. In particular, while there is a growing literature comparing the recognition of real human faces to computer-generated face images, comparisons between human face processing and robot face processing are largely unexplored. Here, we examined how the uncanny/eeriness of robot-faces affects memorability by using a 2AFC old/new task with various robot faces. Participants rated robot and human faces on perceived uncanniness during a study phase and were subsequently given a surprise memory task with only a fraction of the previously-encountered robot faces. Our results suggest that robots who are rated as more uncanny are more memorable than those that do not elicit the eerie feelings that correspond with uncanny faces: The more uncanny the robot face, the more accurately and quickly they were recalled. We discuss these results in the context of the design of social agents for HRI and also vis-a-vis theories of human face recognition and memory.

scholarly journals Expression Dependence in the Perception of Facial Identity

i-Perception ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 204166951771066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annabelle S. Redfern ◽  
Christopher P. Benton
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Fundamental Feature ◽  
Facial Identity ◽  
Face Images ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Identity Representation

We recognise familiar faces irrespective of their expression. This ability, crucial for social interactions, is a fundamental feature of face perception. We ask whether this constancy of facial identity may be compromised by changes in expression. This, in turn, addresses the issue of whether facial identity and expression are processed separately or interact. Using an identification task, participants learned the identities of two actors from naturalistic (so-called ambient) face images taken from movies. Training was either with neutral images or their expressive counterparts, perceived expressiveness having been determined experimentally. Expressive training responses were slower and more erroneous than neutral training responses. When tested with novel images of the actors that varied in expressiveness, neutrally trained participants gave slower and less accurate responses to images of high compared with low expressiveness. These findings clearly demonstrate that facial expressions impede the processing and learning of facial identity. Because this expression dependence is consistent with a late bifurcation model of face processing, in which changeable facial aspects and identity are coded in a common framework, it suggests that expressions are a part of facial identity representation.

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