Identification Performance During Quarantine by COVID-19 Pandemic: Influence of Emotional Variables and Sleep Quality

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions in people’s lives around the globe. Sleep habits and emotional balance have been disturbed in a way that could be comparable to the havoc caused by a deep personal crisis or a traumatic experience. This unfortunate situation provides a unique context in which to study the impact of these imbalances on cognitive processes. In particular, the field of eyewitness science could benefit from these conditions, since they are also often present in crime victims, but can only be generated in the laboratory up to a certain ethical and practical limit. For several decades, eyewitness studies have tried to discover what variables affect people’s ability to properly recognize faces. However, the disparity of experimental designs and the limitations of laboratory work could be contributing to the lack of consensus around several factors, such as sleep, anxiety, and depression. Therefore, the possibility of observing the influence of these agents in natural contexts could shed light on this discussion. Here, we perform simple and repeated lineups with witnesses of mock-crime, considering the conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which to some extent allow emulating the deterioration in general well-being that often afflicts crime victims. For this, 72 participants completed symptomatology scales, and watched a video portraying a staged violent episode. Subsequently, they gave testimony and participated in two lineups, in which we manipulated the presence/absence of the perpetrator, to recreate critical scenarios for the appearance of false recognitions. We found an increase in recognition errors in those individuals who did not have access to the perpetrator during the Initial lineup. Additionally, the conditions of the pandemic appear to have adversely affected the ability to witness and accurately perform lineups. These results reaffirm the need to move toward the standardization of research practices and methods for assessing testimonial evidence, especially in relation to the results of the lineups. Considering the degree of fallibility of these processes can lead to a reduction of wrongful convictions.

Semantic and episodic processes differently predict false memories in the DRM task

There is a fervent debate about the processes underpinning false memories formation. Seminal theories have suggested that semantic memory would be involved in false memories production, while episodic memory would counter their formation. Yet, direct evidence corroborating such view is still missing. Here, we tested this possibility by asking participants to perform the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) task, a typical false memory paradigm, in which they had to study lists of words and subsequently to recognize and distinguish them from new words (i.e., the false memory items). The same participants were also required to perform a semantic task and an episodic-source memory task. Our results showed that a higher number of false memories in the DRM task occurred for those participants with better semantic memory abilities, while a lower number of false memories occurred for participants with better episodic abilities. These findings support a key role of semantic processes in false memory formation and, more generally, help clarify the specific contribution of different memory systems to false recognitions.

News and Commercials: Binding Deficits for Complex Information in Schizophrenia

Memory for complex content is severely impaired in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, which might make processing of daily information such as news and commercials particularly challenging. The goal of the present study was to assess the impairment of everyday memory in patients with schizophrenia. Healthy controls (HC) and patients with schizophrenia (SZ) were asked to watch a selection of six news segments and six commercials and complete a recognition task on the content of these video clips. All participants completed a neuropsychological test battery comprising measures of attention, working and episodic memory, and executive function. The total number of correctly recognized items was significantly lower in the SZ group. In contrast, the number of false recognitions was alike in both news and commercials paradigm. We conclude that memory in patients with schizophrenia is more prone to omissions than distortions for complex everyday stimuli. The results offer further support for impaired binding in SZ patients. Memory in SZ suffices to reject false multi-feature items on grounds of identifying at least one feature as incorrect but does not suffice to recall all features of a complex item and affirm it as correct.

Identifying Positive Features of the Sadness Prototype

Sadness, an emotional experience of daily life, is typically associated with negative experiences such as the loss of a loved one. However, sadness also has an adaptive function, as it can help us respond appropriately to environmental demands. While previous research has revealed positive functions of sadness, it is unclear whether laypeople recognize any positive aspects of sadness. In the present three-part study, we aimed to identify whether laypeople conceptualize any positive features of sadness. In Part 1, we asked Japanese participants ( n = 122) to describe the features of “sadness,” and their responses revealed 37 different sadness features, some of which were assumed to be positive aspects (e.g., meaning making). In Part 2, we asked a second group of Japanese participants ( n = 140) to rate the centrality of each previously named feature, and we then classified the features into either central or peripheral sadness features. At this point, participants reported positive aspects of sadness (e.g., co-occurrence of positive emotion). To confirm the differences between central and peripheral features, in Part 3 we examined automatic responses toward these features from a third group of Japanese participants ( n = 91) and demonstrated the relationship between the concept of sadness and its characteristic features. We presented these participants with a subset of the features of sadness and then asked them to complete a recall and recognition task. As expected, they recalled central features more often than peripheral features of sadness, and they generated false recognitions to central features. In conclusion, this three-part study indicated that there are positive features related to the function of sadness that laypeople can identify in their mental lexicon.

Remembering the Presidents

Here we report research on how important historical figures—presidents of the United States—are remembered and forgotten. When students are given 5 min to recall presidents (in order, if possible), they remember the first few, the most recent, and Lincoln and his immediate successors better than the rest. When this study is done over time, a regular forgetting curve appears, allowing us to assess the rate of forgetting for more recent presidents. Some presidents (e.g., Kennedy) are being forgotten more slowly than others (e.g., Truman). People are more accurate in recognizing presidents than in recalling them, but they also show interesting false recognitions, identifying people such as Alexander Hamilton as a former president. Together, these studies provide a window into how groups of people remember salient figures from their group’s past: its leaders. They also show that the effects derived from studying artificial materials in the lab may generalize more widely to other material with a different type of memory test.

OBJECT DETECTION USING VIOLA-JONES ALGORITHM

In this paper it has been described and applied method for detecting face and face parts in images using the Viola-Jones algorithm. The work is based on Computer Vision Systems, artificial intelligence that deals with the recognition of two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects. When Cascade Object Detector script is trained, multimedia content is assigned for recognition. In this work the content will be in the form of an image, where the program will have the task of recognizing the objects in the images, separating the parts of the images in the head area, and on each discovered face, separately mark the area around the eyes, nose and mouth.Algorithm for detection and recognition is based on scanning and analyzing front part of human head. Common usage of face detection and recognition can be find in biometry, photography, on autofocus option which is implemented in professional photo cameras or on smiling detectors (Keller, 2007). Marketing is also popular field where face detection and recognition can be used. For example, web cameras that are implemented in TVs, can detect every face in near area. Calculating different type of algorithms and parameters, based on sex, age, ethnicity, system can play precisely segmented television commercials and campaigns. Example of that kind of systems is OptimEyes. (Strasburger, 2013)In other words, every algorithm that has as its main goal to detect and recognize face from image, should give as a feedback information, is there any face and if answer is positive, where is its location on image. In order to achieve acceptable performances, algorithm should minimize false recognitions. These are the cases when the algorithm ignores and does not recognize the real object from the image, and vice versa, when the wrong object is recognized as real. One of the algorithms that is frequently applied in this area of research is the Viola-Jones algorithm. This algorithm is functional in real time, meaning that besides detection, it is also possible to adjust the ability to monitor faces from video material.In this paper, the problem that will be analyzed is facial image detection. Man can do this task in a very simple way, but to do the same with a computer, it is necessary to have a range of precise and accurate information, formulas, methods and techniques. In order to maximize the precision of recognizing the face of the image using the Viola-Jones algorithm, it is desirable that the objects in the images are completely face-to-face with the image-taking device, which will be shown through experiments.

Remembering the Presidents

We report research on how important historical figures—presidents of the United States—are remembered and forgotten. When students are given 5 minutes to recall presidents (in order, if possible), they remember the first few, the most recent, and Lincoln and his successors much better than the rest. When this kind of study is done over time, a regular forgetting curve appears, and this allows us to assess the rate of forgetting for more recent presidents. Some presidents (Kennedy, Nixon) are being forgotten more slowly than others (Truman, Ford). People are more accurate in recognizing presidents than in recalling them, but they also show interesting false recognitions, identifying people like Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin as having been president. This same pattern—greater accurate and false memory in recognition tasks compared to recall tasks—often occurs in memory for word lists, too. Together these studies provide a window into processes of collective remembering, how groups of people (in this case, Americans) remember salient events of their group’s past: its leaders. They also show that the effects derived from studying artificial materials in the lab may generalize more widely to other sorts of material with a different type of memory test.