Oxytocin increases bias, but not accuracy, in face recognition line-ups

Abstract

Previous work indicates that intranasal inhalation of oxytocin improves face recognition skills, raising the possibility that it may be used in security settings. However, it is unclear whether oxytocin directly acts upon the core face-processing system itself or indirectly improves face recognition via affective or social salience mechanisms. In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task-a standardized test of unfamiliar face recognition containing target-present and target-absent line-ups. Participants in the oxytocin condition outperformed those in the placebo condition on target-present trials, yet were more likely to make false-positive errors on target-absent trials. Signal detection analyses indicated that oxytocin induced a more liberal response bias, rather than increasing accuracy per se. These findings support a social salience account of the effects of oxytocin on face recognition and indicate that oxytocin may impede face recognition in certain scenarios.

Solving the Border Control Problem: Evidence of Enhanced Face Matching in Individuals with Extraordinary Face Recognition Skills

“…Given that this bias was not replicated in both face matching tasks, it is unclear how this phenomenon may be interpreted. Nonetheless, this finding contributes to the body of literature showing limited effects of enhancement techniques and motivation on face processing ability [ 10 , 15 , 19 ].…”

“…However, it is important to note that there is little evidence to suggest that typical perceivers can be successfully trained in facial image comparison, and it may be that the aforementioned experts are naturally better at unfamiliar face processing. Some studies have reported no training-related improvements at all [ 15 – 17 ], although recent investigations have noted minor enhancements with feedback [ 18 ] cf. [ 19 ] or when matching decisions are made in pairs [ 20 ].…”

Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Long‐Term Memory in Healthy Humans: A Systematic Review

“…Finally, Bate et al [] reported that participants' overall memory performance was not affected by Oxt, but it elicited a positive response bias, i.e., participants were more likely to make false‐positive recognition errors.…”

When Does Oxytocin Affect Human Memory Encoding? The Role of Social Context and Individual Attachment Style

“…For instance, memory-enhancing effects have been reported for faces regardless of emotion expression (Rimmele et al, 2009 ), only for faces with a positive expression (Guastella et al, 2008 ), or only for faces with neutral or negative expressions (Savaskan et al, 2008 ). In still other studies, there was no evidence for memory-enhancing oxytocin effects for faces at all (Di Simplicio et al, 2009 ; Herzmann et al, 2012 ; Bate et al, 2015 ). For example, Di Simplicio et al ( 2009 ) report no effect on actual memory performance, but only on emotional classifications of facial stimuli.…”

“…For example, Di Simplicio et al ( 2009 ) report no effect on actual memory performance, but only on emotional classifications of facial stimuli. Likewise, Bate et al ( 2015 ) found that oxytocin did not affect memory accuracy per se in a recognition memory test for faces, but rather induced more liberal responding, i.e., an enhanced general willingness to accept any stimulus in the memory test as previously seen.…”