Alcohol myopia and the distracting effects of hair in face recognition

Background: According to alcohol myopia theory, alcohol reduces cognitive resources and restricts the drinker’s attention to only the more prominent aspects of a visual scene. As human hairstyles are often salient and serve as important facial recognition cues, we consider whether alcohol restricts attention to this region of faces upon initial viewing. Aims: Participants with higher breath alcohol concentrations just prior to encoding a series of unfamiliar faces were expected to be poorer than more sober counterparts at recognising the internal but not external features of those faces at test. Methods: Drinkers in a nearby bar ( n=76) were breathalysed and then shown a sequence of 21 full face photos. After a filled five-minute retention interval they completed a facial recognition task requiring them to identify the full, internal or external region of each of these among a sequence of 21 previously unseen (part or whole) faces. Results: As predicted, higher breath concentrations were associated with poorer discrimination of internal but not external face regions. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that alcohol restricts unfamiliar face encoding by narrowing the scope of attention to the exterior region of unfamiliar faces. This has important implications for drunk eyewitness accuracy, though further investigation is needed to see if the effect is mediated by gender, hair length and face feature distinctiveness.

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Within-person variability can improve the identification of unfamiliar faces across changes in viewpoint

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/17470218211009771 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174702182110097

Author(s):

Niamh Hunnisett ◽

Simone Favelle

Keyword(s):

Image Matching ◽

Matching Task ◽

Target Image ◽

Front View ◽

Multiple Image ◽

Profile View ◽

Unfamiliar Face ◽

Matching Performance ◽

Sequential Matching ◽

Unfamiliar Faces

Unfamiliar face identification is concerningly error prone, especially across changes in viewing conditions. Within-person variability has been shown to improve matching performance for unfamiliar faces, but this has only been demonstrated using images of a front view. In this study, we test whether the advantage of within-person variability from front views extends to matching to target images of a face rotated in view. Participants completed either a simultaneous matching task (Experiment 1) or a sequential matching task (Experiment 2) in which they were tested on their ability to match the identity of a face shown in an array of either one or three ambient front-view images, with a target image shown in front, three-quarter, or profile view. While the effect was stronger in Experiment 2, we found a consistent pattern in match trials across both experiments in that there was a multiple image matching benefit for front, three-quarter, and profile-view targets. We found multiple image effects for match trials only, indicating that providing observers with multiple ambient images confers an advantage for recognising different images of the same identity but not for discriminating between images of different identities. Signal detection measures also indicate a multiple image advantage despite a more liberal response bias for multiple image trials. Our results show that within-person variability information for unfamiliar faces can be generalised across views and can provide insights into the initial processes involved in the representation of familiar faces.

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The effect of interpersonal multisensory stimulation on the self-face recognition in adults with autistic syndrome disorder

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1318 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (S1) ◽

pp. S367-S368

Author(s):

N. Deltort ◽

J.R. Cazalets ◽

A. Amestoy ◽

M. Bouvard

Keyword(s):

Face Recognition ◽

Mental Representation ◽

Recognition Task ◽

The Self ◽

Control Group ◽

Multimodal Integration ◽

Multisensory Stimulation ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Unfamiliar Face ◽

Multimodal Process

Studies on individuals without developmental disorder show that mental representation of self-face is subject to a multimodal process in the same way that the representation of the self-body is. People with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) have a particular pattern of face processing and a multimodal integration deficit.The objectives of our study were to evaluate the self-face recognition and the effect of interpersonal multisensory stimulation (IMS) in individuals with ASD. We aimed to show a self-face recognition deficit and a lack of multimodal integration among this population.IMS consisted of the presentation of a movie displaying an unfamiliar face being touched intermittently, while the examiner applied the same stimulation synchronously or asynchronously on the participant. The effect resulting from IMS was measured on two groups with or without ASD by a self-face recognition task on morphing movies made from self-face and unfamiliar-face pictures.There was a significant difference between groups on self-recognition before stimulation. This result shows a self-face recognition deficit in individuals with ASD. Results for the control group showed a significant effect of IMS on self-face recognition in synchronous condition. This suggests the existence of an update of self-face mental representation by multimodal process. In contrast, there was no significant effect of IMS demonstrated in ASD group, suggesting a multimodal integration deficit for the constitution of self-representation in this population.Our results show the existence of a self-face recognition deficit in individuals with ASD, which may be linked to a lack of multimodal integration in the development of the self-face representation.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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Alcohol, sexual arousal, and intentions to use condoms in young men: Applying alcohol myopia theory to risky sexual behavior.

Health Psychology ◽

10.1037/0278-6133.19.3.290 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 290-298 ◽

Cited By ~ 104

Author(s):

Tara K. MacDonald ◽

Geoff MacDonald ◽

Mark P. Zanna ◽

Geoffrey Fong

Keyword(s):

Sexual Behavior ◽

Sexual Arousal ◽

Risky Sexual Behavior ◽

Young Men ◽

Alcohol Myopia ◽

Alcohol Myopia Theory

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Unfamiliar Face Matching With Frontal and Profile Views

Perception ◽

10.1177/0301006618756809 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 47 (4) ◽

pp. 414-431 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Robin S. S. Kramer ◽

Michael G. Reynolds

Keyword(s):

Real World ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Matching Accuracy ◽

Face Matching ◽

Matching Test ◽

Unfamiliar Face Matching ◽

Unfamiliar Face ◽

Unfamiliar Faces

Research has systematically examined how laboratory participants and real-world practitioners decide whether two face photographs show the same person or not using frontal images. In contrast, research has not examined face matching using profile images. In Experiment 1, we ask whether matching unfamiliar faces is easier with frontal compared with profile views. Participants completed the original, frontal version of the Glasgow Face Matching Test, and also an adapted version where all face pairs were presented in profile. There was no difference in performance across the two tasks, suggesting that both views were similarly useful for face matching. Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether matching unfamiliar faces is improved when both frontal and profile views are provided. We compared face matching accuracy when both a frontal and a profile image of each face were presented, with accuracy using each view alone. Surprisingly, we found no benefit when both views were presented together in either experiment. Overall, these results suggest that either frontal or profile views provide substantially overlapping information regarding identity or participants are unable to utilise both sources of information when making decisions. Each of these conclusions has important implications for face matching research and real-world identification development.

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The affective facial recognition task: The influence of cognitive styles and exposure times

Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation ◽

10.1016/j.jvcir.2019.102674 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 65 ◽

pp. 102674

Author(s):

Shuna Peng ◽

Yang Dong ◽

Weisha Wang ◽

Jieyi Hu ◽

Weiyang Dong

Keyword(s):

Facial Recognition ◽

Cognitive Styles ◽

Recognition Task

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Facial affect recognition deficits in bipolar disorder

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617703940021 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 623-632 ◽

Cited By ~ 93

Author(s):

GLEN E. GETZ ◽

PAULA K. SHEAR ◽

STEPHEN M. STRAKOWSKI

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Emotional Regulation ◽

Facial Recognition ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Facial Affect ◽

Affect Recognition ◽

Facial Affect Recognition ◽

Benton Facial Recognition Test ◽

Bipolar Patients

Patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BPD), by definition, have problems with emotional regulation. However, it remains uncertain whether these patients are also deficient at processing other people's emotions, particularly while manic. The present study examined the ability of 25 manic bipolar patients and 25 healthy participants on tasks of facial recognition and facial affect recognition at three different presentation durations: 500 ms, 750 ms, and 1000 ms. The groups did not differ in terms of age, education, sex, ethnicity, or estimated IQ. The groups did not differ significantly on either a novel computerized facial recognition task or the Benton Facial Recognition Test. In contrast, the bipolar group performed significantly more poorly than did the comparison group on a novel facial affect labeling task. Although the patient group had slower reaction times on all 3 computerized tasks, the presentation duration did not have an effect on performance in the patients. This study suggests that patients with bipolar disorder are able to recognize faces, but have difficulty processing facial affective cues. (JINS, 2003, 9, 623–632.)

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Effects of Uniqueness, Sex of Subject, and Sex of Photograph on Facial Recognition

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1974.39.1.109 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 109-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 96

Author(s):

Merideth Going ◽

J. D. Read

Keyword(s):

Face Recognition ◽

Facial Recognition ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Male And Female

In a face-recognition task, highly unique faces were correctly identified more often than low-unique faces and female faces more frequently than male faces. At both levels of uniqueness, female Ss recognized female faces more frequently than male faces whereas male Ss recognized male and female faces with equal facility.

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Familiar and unfamiliar face recognition in crested macaques ( Macaca nigra )

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.150109 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (5) ◽

pp. 150109 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jérôme Micheletta ◽

Jamie Whitehouse ◽

Lisa A. Parr ◽

Paul Marshman ◽

Antje Engelhardt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Face Recognition ◽

Social Factors ◽

Novel Species ◽

Primate Species ◽

Pictorial Representation ◽

Facial Features ◽

Dominance Hierarchies ◽

Macaca Nigra ◽

Unfamiliar Face ◽

Unfamiliar Faces

Many species use facial features to identify conspecifics, which is necessary to navigate a complex social environment. The fundamental mechanisms underlying face processing are starting to be well understood in a variety of primate species. However, most studies focus on a limited subset of species tested with unfamiliar faces. As well as limiting our understanding of how widely distributed across species these skills are, this also limits our understanding of how primates process faces of individuals they know, and whether social factors (e.g. dominance and social bonds) influence how readily they recognize others. In this study, socially housed crested macaques voluntarily participated in a series of computerized matching-to-sample tasks investigating their ability to discriminate (i) unfamiliar individuals and (ii) members of their own social group. The macaques performed above chance on all tasks. Familiar faces were not easier to discriminate than unfamiliar faces. However, the subjects were better at discriminating higher ranking familiar individuals, but not unfamiliar ones. This suggests that our subjects applied their knowledge of their dominance hierarchies to the pictorial representation of their group mates. Faces of high-ranking individuals garner more social attention, and therefore might be more deeply encoded than other individuals. Our results extend the study of face recognition to a novel species, and consequently provide valuable data for future comparative studies.

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