scholarly journals Masked face identification is improved by diagnostic feature training

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel James Carragher ◽  
Alice Towler ◽  
Viktoria Roumenova Mileva ◽  
David White ◽  
Peter Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Face Identification ◽  
Diagnostic Feature ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Training Method ◽  
The Public ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Matching Performance

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 must identify offenders and 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 find strong evidence 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.

scholarly journals A grey area: How does image hue affect unfamiliar face matching?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K Bobak ◽  
Viktoria Roumenova Mileva ◽  
Peter Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Matching Task ◽  
Mixed Condition ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Matching Test ◽  
Unfamiliar Face Matching ◽  
Unfamiliar Face ◽  
Matching Performance ◽  
Small Decline ◽  
Clear Shift

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.

scholarly journals Perceptual impairment in face identification with poor sleep

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Beattie ◽  
Darragh Walsh ◽  
Jessica McLaren ◽  
Stephany M. Biello ◽  
David White
Keyword(s):  
Standard Test ◽  
Sleep Diary ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Face Identification ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Lower Accuracy ◽  
Lack Of Sleep ◽  
Perceptual Impairment

Previous studies have shown impaired memory for faces following restricted sleep. However, it is not known whether lack of sleep impairs performance on face identification tasks that do not rely on recognition memory, despite these tasks being more prevalent in security and forensic professions—for example, in photo-ID checks at national borders. Here we tested whether poor sleep affects accuracy on a standard test of face-matching ability that does not place demands on memory: the Glasgow Face-Matching Task (GFMT). In Experiment 1, participants who reported sleep disturbance consistent with insomnia disorder show impaired accuracy on the GFMT when compared with participants reporting normal sleep behaviour. In Experiment 2, we then used a sleep diary method to compare GFMT accuracy in a control group to participants reporting poor sleep on three consecutive nights—and again found lower accuracy scores in the short sleep group. In both experiments, reduced face-matching accuracy in those with poorer sleep was not associated with lower confidence in their decisions, carrying implications for occupational settings where identification errors made with high confidence can have serious outcomes. These results suggest that sleep-related impairments in face memory reflect difficulties in perceptual encoding of identity, and point towards metacognitive impairment in face matching following poor sleep.

scholarly journals Within-person variability promotes learning of internal facial features and facilitates perceptual discrimination and memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott Robins ◽  
Tirta Susilo ◽  
Kay L. Ritchie ◽  
Christel Devue
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
Robust Learning ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Large Benefit

Recent research indicates that exposure to within-person variability is essential for developing robust representations of new faces. For example, people perform better on a face matching task after exposure to highly variable photos, compared to less variable photos. However, the specific aspects of face processing that benefit from variability remain unclear. We investigated whether within-person variability improves the ability to match and recognise individual faces, and whether it promotes learning of internal facial features. In one exploratory and one confirmatory experiments, we tested matching and recognition performance of participants after they learned 4 individual faces in a high variability condition and another 4 in a low variability condition. Further, to assess if variability promotes robust learning of invariant facial features (e.g., eyes, nose), we compared performance with and without external facial features (full headshots vs cropped images showing only internal features). We found a large benefit of variability in the recognition task, and a smaller effect on the matching task, but the size of the benefit was comparable with and without the presence of external features. Therefore, within-person variability improves a variety of face recognition skills, and it encourages the encoding of internal facial features.

scholarly journals The Goldsmiths Unfamiliar Face Memory and Before They Were Adult Tests

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok Jansari ◽  
E. Green ◽  
Francesco Innocenti ◽  
Diego Nardi ◽  
Elena Belanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Face Identification ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Recognition Ability ◽  
Unfamiliar Face ◽  
The Continuum

Unfamiliar face identification ability varies widely in the population. Those at the extreme top and bottom ends of the continuum have been labelled super-recognisers and prosopagnosics, respectively. Here we describe the development of two new tests - the Goldsmiths Unfamiliar Face Memory Test (GUFMT) and the Before They Were Adult Test (BTWA), that have been designed to measure different aspects of face identity ability across the spectrum. The GUFMT is a test of face memory, the BTWA a test of simultaneous adult-to-child face matching. Their designs draw on theories suggesting face identification is achieved by the recognition of facial features, the consistency across time of configurations between those features, and holistic processing of faces as a Gestalt. In four phases, participants (n = 16737), recruited using different methods, allowed evaluations to drive GUFMT development, the creation of likely population norms, as well as correlations with established face recognition tests. Recommendations for criteria for classification of super-recognition ability are also made.

Exploring Levels of Face Familiarity by Using an Indirect Face-Matching Measure

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3335 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 985-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Clutterbuck ◽  
Robert A Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
External Feature ◽  
Unfamiliar Face ◽  
Matching Performance ◽  
Unfamiliar Faces

An experiment is reported in which participants matched complete images of unfamiliar, moderately familiar, and highly familiar faces with simultaneously presented images of internal and external features. Participants had to decide if the two images depicted same or different individuals. Matches to internal features were made faster to highly familiar faces than both to moderately familiar and to unfamiliar faces, and matches to moderately familiar faces were made faster than to unfamiliar faces. For external feature matches, this advantage was only found for “different” decision matches to highly familiar faces compared to unfamiliar faces. The results indicate that the differences in familiar and unfamiliar face processing are not the result of all-or-none effects, but seem to have a graded impact on matching performance. These findings extend the earlier work of Young et al (1985 Perception14 737–746), and we discuss the possibility of using the matching task as an indirect measure of face familiarity.

scholarly journals Image Variability and Face Matching

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Diarmuid Gogan ◽  
Jennifer L Beaudry ◽  
Julian Oldmeadow
Keyword(s):  
Matching Task ◽  
Lower Face ◽  
Face Images ◽  
Face Matching ◽  
Total Data ◽  
Data Points ◽  
Matching Performance ◽  
Image Variability ◽  
Unfamiliar Faces

This study investigates whether variability in perceived trait judgements disrupts our ability to match unfamiliar faces. In this preregistered study, 174 participants completed a face matching task where they were asked to indicate whether two face images belonged to the same person or different people (17,748 total data points). Participants completed 51 match trials consisting of images of the same person that differed substantially on one trait (either trustworthiness, dominance, or attractiveness) with minimal differences in the alternate traits. Participants also completed 51 mismatch trials which contained two photos of similar-looking individuals. We hypothesised that participants would make more errors on match trials when images differed in terms of attractiveness ratings than those that differed on trustworthiness or dominance. Contrary to expectations, images that differed in terms of attractiveness were matched most accurately, and there was no relationship between the extent of attractiveness differences and accuracy. There was some evidence that differences in perceived dominance and, to a lesser extent, trustworthiness was associated with lower face matching performance. However, these relationships were not significant when alternate traits were accounted for. The findings of our study suggest that face matching performance is largely robust against variation in trait judgements. fi

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

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.

Use of Face Information Varies Systematically From Developmental Prosopagnosics to Super-Recognizers

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Tardif ◽  
Xavier Morin Duchesne ◽  
Sarah Cohan ◽  
Jessica Royer ◽  
Caroline Blais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Face Identification ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
Recognition Ability ◽  
Neurologically Typical

Face-recognition abilities differ largely in the neurologically typical population. We examined how the use of information varies with face-recognition ability from developmental prosopagnosics to super-recognizers. Specifically, we investigated the use of facial features at different spatial scales in 112 individuals, including 5 developmental prosopagnosics and 8 super-recognizers, during an online famous-face-identification task using the bubbles method. We discovered that viewing of the eyes and mouth to identify faces at relatively high spatial frequencies is strongly correlated with face-recognition ability, evaluated from two independent measures. We also showed that the abilities of developmental prosopagnosics and super-recognizers are explained by a model that predicts face-recognition ability from the use of information built solely from participants with intermediate face-recognition abilities ( n = 99). This supports the hypothesis that the use of information varies quantitatively from developmental prosopagnosics to super-recognizers as a function of face-recognition ability.

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