Face Recognition Ability Research Articles

Better face-name recall is associated with better face recognition ability.

Face recognition is a highly developed and specialised human ability, distinct from other cognitive abilities. Previous studies examining individual differences in face recognition have focused on face perception and specialised perceptual mechanisms such as holistic face processing. However, the contribution of specific face memory processes to face recognition ability remains unclear. In 99 neurotypical individuals, we administered validated face perception assessments, three face memory tasks (old/new task, face-scene task, face-name/occupation task), and the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) to assess face recognition ability. We found that after accounting for face perception ability (which significantly predicted face recognition ability), face-name recall and recollection of faces in the face-scene task predicted unique variance in face recognition ability, with face-name recall being the strongest predictor. This highlights that associative memory mechanisms contribute to face recognition abilities and suggests that the ability to learn and recall proper names is particularly important to face recognition.

Poor face recognition predicts social anxiety in autism: A short report.

Research has shown that some autistic people have severe difficulties in recognising other people's faces. However, little is understood about how these difficulties impact the daily life and the mental well-being of autistic people. In this study, we asked 60 autistic adults with varying degrees of face recognition ability to complete two tests of face recognition, a questionnaire about social anxiety and a bespoke survey which asked participants about their experiences of face recognition and social interaction. We found that participants who had poor face recognition reported experiencing higher levels of social anxiety compared to those with average or better face recognition skills. More than half felt that their face recognition difficulties affected their social interactions, and over a third believed it hindered their ability to make friends. These findings suggest that face recognition difficulties may contribute to social anxiety among autistic individuals.

Flexible use of facial features supports face identity processing.

People prioritize diagnostic features in classification tasks. However, it is not clear whether this priority is fixed or is flexibly applied depending on the specific classification decision, or how feature use behavior contributes to individual differences in performance. Here we examined whether flexibility in features used in a face identification task supports face recognition ability. In Experiment 1, we show that the facial features most useful for identification vary-to a surprising degree-depending on the specific face identity comparison at hand. While the ears and eyes were the most diagnostic for face identification in general, they were the most diagnostic feature for just 22% and 14% of identity decisions, respectively. In three subsequent experiments, we find that flexibility in feature use contributes to an individual's face identity matching ability. Higher face identification accuracy was associated with being aware of (Experiments 2 and 4) and attending to (Experiments 3 and 4) the most diagnostic features for a specific facial comparison. This conferred an enhanced benefit relative to focusing on features that were diagnostic of face identity decisions in general (Experiment 4). We conclude that adaptability in information sampling supports face recognition ability and discuss theoretical and applied implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Information sampling differences supporting superior face identity processing ability.

Face recognition in humans is often cited as a model example of perceptual expertise that is characterized by an increased tendency to process faces as holistic percepts. However emerging evidence across different domains of expertise points to a critical role of feature-based processing strategies during the initial encoding of information. Here, we examined the eye-movement patterns of super-recognisers-individuals with extremely high faceidentification ability compared with the average person-using gaze-contingent "spotlight" apertures that restrict visual face information in real time around their point of fixation. As an additional contrast, we also compared their performance with that of facial examiners-highly trained individuals whose superiority has been shown to rely heavily on featural processing. Super-recognisers and facial examiners showed equivalent facematching accuracy in both spotlight aperture and natural viewing conditions, suggesting that they were equally adept at using featural information for faceidentity processing. Further, both groups sampled more information across the face than controls. Together, these results show that the active exploration of facial features is an important determinant of facerecognition ability that generalizes across different types of experts.

Exploration of the Links Between Psychosocial Well-being and Face Recognition Skills in a French-Speaking Sample.

Face recognition abilities vary tremendously in the general population. People at the lower end of the spectrum, those with developmental prosopagnosia, report stress, anxiety or social interaction issues due to their poor face recognition abilities. It is thus important to develop adequate diagnostic tools convenient to use for clinicians and to examine relationships between face recognition skills and negative affects. In the present study, we provide a validated French translation of the 20-item prosopagnosia index (PI20), a self-report measure used to detect people with developmental facial identity recognition deficits (Shah et al., 2015; Tsantani et al., 2021). We also examined links between face recognition skills measured with the PI20 and a standard face recognition test (Cambridge face memory test-CFMT; Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006) and measures of social anxiety (social interaction anxiety scale, social phobia scale) and negative affects (state trait anxiety scale, Beck depression inventory). We did not find any significant correlation between the CFMT and measures of psychosocial well-being and only found a weak positive association between the PI20 and social interaction anxiety. Although this association is weak and warrants further research, raising awareness about developmental face recognition issues may help improve the well-being of people with facial identity recognition deficits and provide new investigation or intervention avenues for clinicians who treat patients with social interaction anxiety.

A Mobile Surveillance System with Face Detection and Recognition Abilities

This paper proposes a mobile surveillance system similar to an electronic dog which has the ability to move around a certain location all while detecting and recognizing the individuals and notifying the respective authorities about the detected person. The system uses an Arduino UNO microcontroller along with IR receiver and remote to function as a remote-controlled vehicle while also providing an option for automatic movement of the vehicle. The system also has an integrated camera that constantly feeds live video to a computer system. Haar-cascades take in the frames of videos and detect appearance of human face. Then, pretrained FaceNet Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) compares the detected face to the authorized faces in an attempt to recognize the face. The system also boasts the feature of email notification for which it employs the SMTP protocol to send an email with the detected face to the authorized personnel. The methods and techniques used to implement these features are presented in depth in this paper.

Autistic adults have insight into their relative face recognition ability

The PI20 is a self-report questionnaire that assesses the presence of lifelong face recognition difficulties. The items on this scale ask respondents to assess their face recognition ability relative to the rest of the population, either explicitly or implicitly. Recent reports suggest that the PI20 scores of autistic participants exhibit little or no correlation with their performance on the Cambridge Face Memory Test—a key measure of face recognition ability. These reports are suggestive of a meta-cognitive deficit whereby autistic individuals are unable to infer whether their face recognition is impaired relative to the wider population. In the present study, however, we observed significant correlations between the PI20 scores of 77 autistic adults and their performance on two variants of the Cambridge Face Memory Test. These findings indicate that autistic individuals can infer whether their face recognition ability is impaired. Consistent with previous research, we observed a wide spread of face recognition abilities within our autistic sample. While some individuals approached ceiling levels of performance, others met the prevailing diagnostic criteria for developmental prosopagnosia. This variability showed little or no association with non-verbal intelligence, autism severity, or the presence of co-occurring alexithymia or ADHD.

Normative data of the Italian Famous Face Test

The faces we see in daily life exist on a continuum of familiarity, ranging from personally familiar to famous to unfamiliar faces. Thus, when assessing face recognition abilities, adequate evaluation measures should be employed to discriminate between each of these processes and their relative impairments. We here developed the Italian Famous Face Test (IT-FFT), a novel assessment tool for famous face recognition in typical and clinical populations. Normative data on a large sample (N = 436) of Italian individuals were collected, assessing both familiarity (d′) and recognition accuracy. Furthermore, this study explored whether individuals possess insights into their overall face recognition skills by correlating the Prosopagnosia Index-20 (PI-20) with the IT-FFT; a negative correlation between these measures suggests that people have a moderate insight into their face recognition skills. Overall, our study provides the first online-based Italian test for famous faces (IT-FFT), a test that could be used alongside other standard tests of face recognition because it complements them by evaluating real-world face familiarity, providing a more comprehensive assessment of face recognition abilities. Testing different aspects of face recognition is crucial for understanding both typical and atypical face recognition.

Autistic adults exhibit typical sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance.

The visual processing differences seen in autism often impede individuals' visual perception of the social world. In particular, many autistic people exhibit poor face recognition. Here, we sought to determine whether autistic adults also show impaired perception of dyadic social interactions-a class of stimulus thought to engage face-like visual processing. Our focus was the perception of interpersonal distance. Participants completed distance change detection tasks, in which they had to make perceptual decisions about the distance between two actors. On half of the trials, participants judged whether the actors moved closer together; on the other half, whether they moved further apart. In a nonsocial control task, participants made similar judgments about two grandfather clocks. We also assessed participants' face recognition ability using standardized measures. The autistic and nonautistic observers showed similar levels of perceptual sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance when viewing social interactions. As expected, however, the autistic observers showed clear signs of impaired face recognition. Despite putative similarities between the visual processing of faces and dyadic social interactions, our results suggest that these two facets of social vision may dissociate.

Face Feature Change Detection Ability in Developmental Prosopagnosia and Super-Recognisers.

In non-clinical populations, facial features (eyes, nose, mouth) may vary in their contribution to face identity perception. Changes to whole faces are easier to detect than changes to individual features, and eye changes are typically easier to detect than mouth changes, which in turn are easier to detect than nose changes. However, how this differs for people with face recognition difficulties (developmental prosopagnosia; DP) and for individuals with superior face recognition abilities (super-recognisers; SR) is not clear; although findings from previous studies have suggested differences, the nature of this difference is not understood. The aim of this study was to examine whether differences in the ability to detect feature changes in DPs and SRs were (a) quantitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes remained the same but there was an overall upwards or downwards shift in performance, or (b) qualitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes was different. Using a change detection task in which individual face features (eyes, nose, mouth) changed between sequentially presented faces, we found that while prosopagnosics showed a quantitative difference in performance with a downwards shift across all conditions, super-recognisers only showed qualitative differences: they were better able to detect when the face was the same and were marginally (but not non-significantly) worse at detecting when the eyes changed. Further, the only condition which distinguished between the three groups was the ability to identify when the same face was presented, with SRs being better than controls, and controls being better than DPs. Our findings suggest that, in feature-matching tasks, differences for DPs are due to them being overall worse at the task, while SRs use a qualitatively different strategy.

Relationship between face recognition ability and anxiety tendencies in healthy young individuals: A prosopagnosia index and state-trait anxiety inventory study

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a condition that indicates the inability to recognize individuals by their faces from birth, without any history of brain damage. The assessment of face recognition ability and diagnosis of DP involve the use of face tests such as the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) and the Cambridge Face Perception Test, along with self-reported measures like the 20-Item Prosopagnosia Index (PI20). Face recognition accuracy is affected by anxiety. However, previous studies on the relationship between face recognition ability and anxiety have not used the PI20 measure. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between self-reported measures of face recognition ability and anxiety tendencies among healthy young individuals for DP diagnosis and its implications. We used a face recognition test, involving the PI20, CFMT, Visual Perception Test for Agnosia–Famous Face Test (VPTA–FFT), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). We assessed the performance of 116 Japanese young adults (75 females, median age of 20.7 years, with a standard deviation of 1.2). Subsequently, we conducted a statistical analysis to examine the relationship between the outcomes of the face recognition tests and STAI scores using Pearson correlation analysis and single correlation coefficients. The results showed a positive correlation between state anxiety and PI20 (r = 0.308, p = 0.007), and a weak positive correlation was also observed between trait anxiety and PI20 (r = 0.268, p = 0.04). In contrast, there was no correlation between CFMT and VPTA–FFT with respect to STAI. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis also suggested that the correlation between the performance on the PI20 (self-report) and objective measures of face recognition performance (the CFMT and the VPTA–FFT) are driven by differences in anxiety. This study is the first to explore the relationship between face recognition abilities and anxiety using the PI20 self-report measure. There are implications for future research on the diagnosis of DP and the relationship between anxiety and face recognition.

Both identity and non-identity face perception tasks predict developmental prosopagnosia and face recognition ability

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by deficits in face identification. However, there is debate about whether these deficits are primarily perceptual, and whether they extend to other face processing tasks (e.g., identifying emotion, age, and gender; detecting faces in scenes). In this study, 30 participants with DP and 75 controls completed a battery of eight tasks assessing four domains of face perception (identity; emotion; age and gender; face detection). The DP group performed worse than the control group on both identity perception tasks, and one task from each other domain. Both identity perception tests uniquely predicted DP/control group membership, and performance on two measures of face memory. These findings suggest that deficits in DP may arise from issues with face perception. Some non-identity tasks also predicted DP/control group membership and face memory, even when face identity perception was accounted for. Gender perception and speed of face detection consistently predicted unique variance in group membership and face memory; several other tasks were only associated with some measures of face recognition ability. These findings indicate that face perception deficits in DP may extend beyond identity perception. However, the associations between tasks may also reflect subtle aspects of task demands or stimuli.

Decoding face recognition abilities in the human brain.

Why are some individuals better at recognizing faces? Uncovering the neural mechanisms supporting face recognition ability has proven elusive. To tackle this challenge, we used a multimodal data-driven approach combining neuroimaging, computational modeling, and behavioral tests. We recorded the high-density electroencephalographic brain activity of individuals with extraordinary face recognition abilities-super-recognizers-and typical recognizers in response to diverse visual stimuli. Using multivariate pattern analyses, we decoded face recognition abilities from 1 s of brain activity with up to 80% accuracy. To better understand the mechanisms subtending this decoding, we compared representations in the brains of our participants with those in artificial neural network models of vision and semantics, as well as with those involved in human judgments of shape and meaning similarity. Compared to typical recognizers, we found stronger associations between early brain representations of super-recognizers and midlevel representations of vision models as well as shape similarity judgments. Moreover, we found stronger associations between late brain representations of super-recognizers and representations of the artificial semantic model as well as meaning similarity judgments. Overall, these results indicate that important individual variations in brain processing, including neural computations extending beyond purely visual processes, support differences in face recognition abilities. They provide the first empirical evidence for an association between semantic computations and face recognition abilities. We believe that such multimodal data-driven approaches will likely play a critical role in further revealing the complex nature of idiosyncratic face recognition in the human brain.

What is developmental about developmental prosopagnosia?

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by difficulties recognising face identities and is associated with diverse co-occurring object recognition difficulties. The high co-occurrence rate and heterogeneity of associated difficulties in DP is an intrinsic feature of developmental conditions, where co-occurrence of difficulties is the rule, rather than the exception. However, despite its name, cognitive and neural theories of DP rarely consider the developmental context in which these difficulties occur. This leaves a large gap in our understanding of how DP emerges in light of the developmental trajectory of face recognition. Here, we argue that progress in the field requires re-considering the developmental origins of differences in face recognition abilities, rather than studying the end-state alone. In practice, considering development in DP necessitates a re-evaluation of current approaches in recruitment, design, and analyses.

An ecological momentary cognitive assessment study of over-attribution of threat and suicide risk factors in people with serious mental illness

IntroductionPeople with serious mental illness (SMI; schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder) are at increased risk of suicidal ideation (SI). Over-attribution of social threat, or attributing threatening emotions to neutral faces, may contribute to social isolation through increased social avoidance and decreased social approach motivation. These factors are related to suicide, as well as perceived burdensomeness (PB) and thwarted belongingness (TB). This study examined how over-attribution of threat relates to PB, TB, and social motivations. MethodN = 273 participants with SMI were assessed for current SI and behavior, and were stratified into SI (N = 130) vs. non-SI (N = 143) groups. Participants completed smartphone surveys (via ecological momentary assessments [EMA]) 3×/day for 10 days. They also completed the Mobile Ecological Test of Emotion Recognition (METER) 1×/day. Linear mixed models and multi-level mediation tested the relationships between over-attribution of threat, METER performance, PB/TB, and social motivations. ResultsParticipants with and without SI did not significantly differ in over-attribution of threat or METER performance. In separate models, there was a relationship of over-attribution of threat with increased PB (B = 1.00, SE = 0.21, t = 4.72, p < .001), reduced social approach motivation (B = -0.74, SE = 0.22, t = −3.33, p < .001), and increased social avoidance (B = 0.90, SE = 0.24, t = 3.70, p < .001), all significant when adjusting for facial affect recognition ability. A model examining social motivations as a mediator between over-attribution of threat and PB/TB was not significant. ConclusionThese results suggest that over-attribution of threat relates to interpersonal constructs related to SI irrespective of facial affect abilities. This study may inform understanding of social cognitive processes related to suicide in SMI.

Determinants of Face Recognition: The Role of Target Prevalence and Similarity.

Studies of facial identity processing typically assess perception (via matching) and/or memory (via recognition), with experimental designs differing with respect to one important aspect: Target Prevalence. Some designs include "target absent" (TA) among "target present" (TP) trials. In visual search tasks, TA trials shift an observer's decisional criterion towards a stricter one, increasing misses. However, decisional biases will differ between individuals and across an individual's decisions as well. In this way, excluding TA trials ensures comparable levels of expectation and thus a more controlled decisional bias both within and between observers by not considering correct rejections and false alarms. However, TA trials may occur, e.g., in police line-ups, where it is important to consider observers' face recognition ability net of the potential biases introduced by TA and TP trials. And, while these have been investigated in numerous other stimulus domains, their effects have not yet been extended to face recognition. We therefore sought to fill this void by testing different versions of the previously established Models Memory Test, which measures old/new recognition of experimentally learned facial identities. Our study found significant expectation effects, driven by target prevalence that persist even given prevalence changes. This implies that face recognition - even measured with naturalistic changes - is influenced by prior perceptual decisions.

Perception and memory-based representations of facial emotions: Associations with personality functioning, affective states and recognition abilities

Personality traits and affective states are associated with biases in facial emotion perception. However, the precise personality impairments and affective states that underlie these biases remain largely unknown. To investigate how relevant factors influence facial emotion perception and recollection, Experiment 1 employed an image reconstruction approach in which community-dwelling adults (N = 89) rated the similarity of pairs of facial expressions, including those recalled from memory. Subsequently, perception- and memory-based expression representations derived from such ratings were assessed across participants and related to measures of personality impairment, state affect, and visual recognition abilities. Impairment in self-direction and level of positive affect accounted for the largest components of individual variability in perception and memory representations, respectively. Additionally, individual differences in these representations were impacted by face recognition ability. In Experiment 2, adult participants (N = 81) rated facial image reconstructions derived in Experiment 1, revealing that individual variability was associated with specific visual face properties, such as expressiveness, representation accuracy, and positivity/negativity. These findings highlight and clarify the influence of personality, affective state, and recognition abilities on individual differences in the perception and recollection of facial expressions.

Intact high-level visual functions in congenital rod-monochromacy.

High-level visual functions such as reading and face recognition rely on global processes, which are often insensitive to high spatial frequencies. However, it is unknown whether a sharp cone signal is necessary for the development of these skills or whether a blurry rod signal is sufficient. CNGA3/B3-achromatopsia is a congenital disease stemming from cone dysfunction, leading to rod-only vision characterized by nystagmus, impaired acuity, and complete color blindness. We tested reading and face recognition in CNGA3/B3-achromatopsia patients (ACHM) to determine whether a rod signal is sufficient for these skills to develop. We tested 10 ACHM and 10 controls in three experiments under dark and light conditions. Initially, we evaluated acuity along the eccentricity axis. Later, we tested reading speed and upright/inverted face matching accuracy while tracking participants' eye movements. Given that ACHM patients' acuity under light conditions resembled that of controls under dark conditions, we selected these conditions for comparison. Remarkably, ACHM reading speed, face recognition abilities, and susceptibility to face inversion were not inferior to those of controls. Additionally, ACHM patients exhibited similar eye movements to controls, focusing their attention on specific areas of words and faces that indicate expertise. Despite the evident low-level limitations, ACHM patients demonstrated notable high-level visual skills, suggesting that rod-only vision is sufficient for the development of proficient reading and face recognition. These findings not only corroborate empirical evidence for high-level vision models but also enrich the discussion regarding the reasons for high-level deficits observed in individuals who have gained sight late in life.

Rancang Bangun Sistem Kamera Pengawas dengan Pengenalan Wajah untuk Keamanan Berbasis Blynk Legacy

Covid-19 pandemic that has occurred since the beginning of 2020 has brought down all aspects of the country, starting from community activities to the economy. This has an impact on increasing the number of crimes committed by the community such as theft, robbery or other crimes. In this study, a room security system is proposed that uses a surveillance camera with a face recognition ability that records the face image of an intruder and records events as evidence of an intrusion. This system sends information quickly and automatically to the Android application user if an intruder who the camera doesn't recognize enters his house. The smartphone application user can control camera movements inside the house to monitor the movement of intruders and record the incident. This system uses 5 ESP32-CAM cameras. One camera is used to recognize and record the intruder's face image placed in front of the house and four cameras as surveillance and face recognition cameras are placed inside of the house. Each camera is driven by a servo motor controlled by a ESP8266 microcontroller. From the test results it is known that the maximum distance that the cameras still recognize the face image of an intruder or the home owner's face image is 2 meters when the light is bright. When it is dim, the camera in front of the house recognizes the face images up to 0.5 meters while the cameras inside of the house recognize the face images up to 1 meter. The average delay time for sending data from the camera system to application user is 201 ms to 617 ms.&#x0D; &#x0D;

How do face processing strategies and eye-movements contribute to individual differences in face recognition ability?

How do face processing strategies and eye-movements contribute to individual differences in face recognition ability?