Abstract
Photographic identity documents (IDs) are commonly used despite clear evidence that unfamiliar face matching is a difficult and error-prone task. The current study set out to examine the performance of seven individuals with extraordinary face recognition memory, so called “super recognisers” (SRs), on two face matching tasks resembling border control identity checks. In Experiment 1, the SRs as a group outperformed control participants on the “Glasgow Face Matching Test”, and some case-by-case comparisons also reached significance. In Experiment 2, a perceptually difficult face matching task was used: the “Models Face Matching Test”. Once again, SRs outperformed controls both on group and mostly in case-by-case analyses. These findings suggest that SRs are considerably better at face matching than typical perceivers, and would make proficient personnel for border control agencies.
Highlights
IntroductionInvestigation of the face matching skills of super recognisers” (SRs) is an important theoretical issue given individuals at the other end of the face recognition spectrum (i.e. those with prosopagnosia: [23,24,25]) can present with or without impairments in face perception [26]
The findings reviewed above suggest that individuals who are proficient at processing unfamiliar faces may be useful employees in occupations where excellent face matching skills are necessary, a solution previously suggested in the applied literature [1,2,3]
The work presented here is a further testimony to the considerable variation in human face matching ability that has been reported in previous work [1,2,34], i.e. while some participants were highly accurate on the matching tasks reported here, others were less so
Summary
Investigation of the face matching skills of SRs is an important theoretical issue given individuals at the other end of the face recognition spectrum (i.e. those with prosopagnosia: [23,24,25]) can present with or without impairments in face perception [26] Such findings have aided the development of dominant models of face-processing (e.g. Bruce & Young [7]), by indicating that the face-processing pathway can be lesioned at different locations (i.e. at an early stage involving structural encoding or a later stage involving retrieval); yet the presumed hierarchical nature of the framework explains why the hallmark deficit in facial identity recognition presents even in the former group of individuals. This task examined whether any superior face matching skills of SRs are evident when task demands are high, and efficient extraction of information is required in order to elicit an accurate response Given that these tests resemble tasks that are typically performed by passport control and other security officers, this investigation is of particular interest to those who perform person-to-ID comparisons in an occupational setting
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