We describe a new test for unfamiliar face matching, the Glasgow Face Matching Test (GFMT). Viewers are shown pairs of faces, photographed in full-face view but with different cameras, and are asked to make same/ different judgments. The full version of the test comprises 168 face pairs, and we also describe a shortened version with 40 pairs. We provide normative data for these tests derived from large subject samples. We also describe associations between the GFMT and other tests of matching and memory. The new test correlates moderately with face memory but more strongly with object matching, a result that is consistent with previous research highlighting a link between object and face matching, specific to unfamiliar faces. The test is available free for scientific use.

Vividness is used in a range of senses which often conflate the intensity of an experience with the accuracy of mental images. In this article we consider the vividness of responses to literary descriptions of faces in the light of the psychology of face perception and the neuroscience of the mirror neuron system. We distinguish between intensity of experience and accuracy of mental images and compare two models of reader response to descriptions: the jigsaw model (the reader constructs a mental image from items of verbal information) and the experiential model (the reader has an emotional, embodied, and holistic response). We predict which aspects of facial description will provoke a vivid response in the experiential sense and discuss examples of literary descriptions of faces in the light of these predictions. We conclude with an illustration of how these insights can be used in literary history and interpretation.

No abstract

Semantic priming in person recognition has been studied extensively. In a typical experiment, participants are asked to make a familiarity decision to target items that have been immediately preceded by related or unrelated primes. Facilitation is usually observed from related primes, and this priming is equivalent across stimulus domains (i.e., faces and names prime one another equally). Structural models of face recognition (e.g., IAC: Burton, Bruce, & Johnston, 1990) accommodate these effects by proposing a level of person identity nodes (PINs) at which recognition routes converge, and which allow access to a common pool of semantics. We present three experiments that examine semantic priming for different decisions. Priming for a semantic decision (e.g., British/American?) shows exactly the same pattern that is normally observed for a familiarity decision. The pattern is equivalent for name and face recognition. However, no semantic priming is observed when participants are asked to make a sex decision. These results constrain future models of face processing and are discussed with reference to current theories of semantic priming.

One of the most reliable findings in the literature on person indentification is that semantic categorization of a face occurs more quickly than naming a face. Here we present two experiments in which participants are shown the faces of their colleagues, i.e., personally familiar people, encountered with high frequency. In each experiment, naming was faster than making a semantic classification, despite the fact that the semantic classifications were highly salient to the participants (Experiment 1: highest degree obtained; Experiment 2: nationality). The finding is consistent with models that allow or parallel access from faces to semantic information and to names, and demonstrates the need for the frequency of exposure to names to be taken into account in models of proper name processing e.g. Burke, Mackay, Worthley and Wade (1991).

Facial image comparison by video superimposition Facial wipes don't wash: Facial image comparison by video superimposition reduces the accuracy of face matching decisions AbstractIn cases of disputed CCTV identification, expert testimony based on the results of analysis by facial image comparison may be presented to the Jury. However, many of the techniques lack empirical data to support their use. Using a within participants design, we compared the accuracy of face matching decisions when images were presented using a 'facial wipe' technique (where one image is superimposed on another, and the display gradually 'wipes' between the two), to decisions based on static images. Experiment 1 used high quality image pairs, Experiment 2 used disguised target images, and Experiment 3 used degraded target images. Across all three experiments, rather than optimising performance, facial wipes reduced accuracy relative to static presentations. Further, there is evidence that video wipes increase false positives, and therefore may increase the likelihood that images of two different people will be incorrectly judged to show the same individual. Facial image comparison by video superimposition

The aim of presenting chimeric images (formed from opposing halves of a pair of same or different faces) in court settings is to optimise the accuracy of identification decisions based on CCTV evidence. The experiments reported here examined the utility of this technique. Experiment 1 examined the accuracy of face matching with vertically split, aligned chimeric images, misaligned hemi-faces and full-face images. Experiment 2 replicated the first experiment but replaced the misaligned images with opposing hemi-faces separated by a gap. The final experiment used horizontally split faces. All three experiments showed that matching was less accurate with aligned chimeric images than with full-face images. Furthermore, the pattern of responses obtained with chimeric images differed significantly from full-face matching and misaligned/separated hemi-face matching. Chimeric images produced a bias towards same responses even when the face halves were different. The results suggest caution in the use of chimeric images in court.

We examined whether prior knowledge of a person affects the visual processes involved in learning a face. In two experiments, subjects were taught to associate human faces with characters they knew (from the TV show The Simpsons) or characters they did not (novel names). In each experiment, knowledge of the character predicted performance in a recognition memory test, relying only on old/new confidence ratings. In experiment 1, we established the technique and showed that there is a face-learning advantage for known people, even when face items are counterbalanced for familiarity across the experiment. In experiment 2 we replicated the effect in a setting which discouraged subjects from attending more to known than unknown people, and eliminated any visual association between face stimuli and a character from The Simpsons. We conclude that prior knowledge about a person can enhance learning of a new face.