Masters of disguise: Super-recognisers’ superior memory for concealed faces

The deployment of police super-recognisers (SRs) with exceptional face recognition ability, has transformed the manner in which some forces manage CCTV evidence. In London, SRs make high numbers of suspect identifications, sometimes of suspects in disguise. In two experiments measuring immediate and one-week memory of faces in disguise, SRs were more accurate and confident than controls at correctly identifying targets, and ruling out faces not seen before. Accuracy and confidence were highest when targets wore no disguise, followed by hat and plaster, sunglasses, and balaclavas respectively. Even in the balaclava condition, SR performance was more accurate than chance. These findings join an accumulating body of empirical evidence demonstrating that SRs possess wide-ranging enhanced face processing abilities, and their deployment should complement ever improving computerised face recognition systems

The influence of clothing change on solo and group street identifications

In England, street identifications are mainly conducted shortly after a crime, with the suspect present in person (live). Most are solo procedures (showups), although group procedures involving two or more suspects can be conducted – in effect these are all-suspect lineups. Culprits also sometimes change or discard clothing on leaving the scene of the crime. The current research found no differences in identification rates between solo and group live culprit-present or in culprit-absent trials in which the culprit was replaced by an innocent suspect, although a clothing change between mock crime and procedure substantially reduced the likelihood of anyone being identified

The worldwide impact of identifying super-recognisers in police and business

Super-recognisers occupy the extreme top end of a wide spectrum of human face recognition ability. Although test scores provide evidence of super-recognisers’ quantitative superiority, their abilities may be driven by qualitatively different cognitive or neurological mechanisms. Some super-recognisers scoring exceptionally highly on multiple short-term face memory tests do not achieve superior performances on measures of simultaneous face matching, long-term face memory and/or spotting faces in a crowd. Heterogeneous performance patterns have implications for police, security or business aiming to utilise super-recognisers’ superior skills. Drawing on a global participant base (N ≈ 6,000,000), as well as theory and empirical research, this paper describes the background, development, and employment of tests designed to measure four components of superior face processing to assist in recruitment and deployment decisions

Holistic facial composite construction and subsequent lineup identification accuracy: Comparing adults and children

When the police have no suspect, they may ask an eyewitness to construct a facial composite of that suspect from memory. Faces are primarily processed holistically, and recently developed computerised holistic facial composite systems (e.g., EFIT-V) have been designed to match these processes. The reported research compared children aged 6–11 years with adults on their ability to construct a recognisable EFIT-V composite. Adult constructor’s EFIT-Vs received significantly higher composite-suspect likeness ratings from assessors than children’s, although there were some notable exceptions. In comparison to adults, the child constructors also overestimated the composite-suspect likeness of their own EFIT-Vs. In a second phase, there were no differences between adult controls and constructors in correct identification rates from video lineups. However, correct suspect identification rates by child constructors were lower than those of child controls, suggesting that a child’s memory for the suspect can be adversely influenced by composite construction. Nevertheless, all child constructors coped with the demands of the EFIT-V system, and the implications for research, theory and the criminal justice system practice are discussed

Identification on the street: A field comparison of police street identifications and video line-ups in England

A street identification or live show-up provides an eyewitness with an opportunity to identify a suspect shortly after a crime. In England, the majority of suspects identified are subsequently included in a video line-up for the same witness to view. In Study 1, robbery squad data from three English police forces recorded 696 crimes, the identification procedures employed and prosecution decisions. A street identification was the most frequent identification procedure, being attempted in 22.7% of investigations, followed by mugshot albums (11.2%) and video line-ups (3.4%). In Study 2, data of 59 crimes were collected in which suspects, identified in a street identification, were subsequently filmed for a video line-up. Across both studies, most (84%) suspects identified in the street were subsequently identified in a video line-up, indicative of a commitment effect, in which a witness conforms to their first identification decision. All suspects identified in two procedures were eventually cautioned or charged to appear in court. The ground truth of suspect guilt in these field data cannot be determined. However, suggestions are made for reducing the likelihood of a mistaken identification of an innocent suspect caught up in an investigation; all possible steps should be taken to reduce the inherent suggestiveness of the street identification procedure

The super-recogniser advantage extends to the detection of hyper-realistic face masks

Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, more than 40 known criminal acts have been committed by perpetrators using this type of disguise. With the increasing availability and bespoke sophistication of these masks, research must now focus on ways to enhance their detection. In this study, we investigate whether super-recognisers (SRs), people who excel at identity recognition, are more likely to detect this type of fraud, in comparison to typical-recogniser controls. Across three tasks, we examined mask detection rates in the absence of a pre-task prompt (covert task), and again after making participants aware of their use in criminal settings (explicit task). Finally, participants were asked to indicate which aspects of the masks could support their detection (regions of interest task). The findings show an SR advantage for the detection of hyper-realistic masks across the covert and explicit mask detection tasks. In addition, the eye, mouth, and nose regions appear to be particularly indicative of the presence of a mask. The lack of natural skin texture, proportional features, expressiveness, and asymmetry are also salient cues. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed

The ‘casting couch’ scenario: Impact of perceived employment benefit, reporting delay, complainant gender, and participant gender on juror decision-making in rape cases

Recent media reports of contemporary and historical rape and sexual assault cases have focused on the entertainment industry, particularly around the notion of the ‘casting couch’. This scenario, in which a powerful figure obtains sometimes non-consensual sexual acts from subordinate actors in exchange for employment, was used to explore the influence of rape myths and Sexual Economics Theory on mock-juror decision-making. Participant-jurors (n = 907) viewed video and written testimony of a complainant, accusing a male producer of rape. Complainant gender (male, female), delay before reporting the incident to the police (immediately, six months, ten years), and complainant casting in the production were randomly varied (acting role secured, not secured). The strongest effects were that females (79.7%) were significantly more likely than males (62.7%) to deliver a guilty verdict and to recommend longer prison sentences for the offence. When the complainant did not secure the acting role, and they delayed reporting the incident for six months, there was a trend for guilty verdict rates to be slightly higher when the complainant was male (80.5%) than female (64.5%). No interacting complainant gender effects on trial outcomes were found in the other delay conditions, or when the actor secured employment. Defendant guilt attributions to the male and female complainant were also differently influenced by rape myth belief levels and homophobic attitudes, but not beliefs in a just world. The casting couch euphemism, reported worldwide, suggests industry acceptance, and may sanitise the act of demanding sex and even committing rape. However, these results have important implications for any occupational setting in which men in positions of power may sexually exploit junior staff

An evaluation of post-production facial composite enhancement techniques

Purpose: This article describes four experiments evaluating post-production enhancement techniques with facial composites mainly created using the EFIT-V holistic system. Design/methodology/approach: Each experiment was conducted in two stages. In Stage 1, constructors created between one and four individual composites of unfamiliar targets. These were merged to create morphs, and in Experiment 3, composites were also vertically stretched. In Stage 2, participants familiar with the targets named or provided target-similarity ratings to the images. Findings: In Experiments 1-3, correct naming rates were significantly higher to between-witness 4-morphs, within-witness 4-morphs and vertically stretched composites than to individual composites. In Experiment 4, there was a positive relationship between composite-target similarity ratings and between-witness morph-size (2-, 4-, 8-, 16-morphs). Practical implications: The likelihood of a facial composite being recognised can be improved by morphing and vertical stretch. Originality/value: A greater understanding of the theoretical underpinnings and applied advantage of post-production facial composite techniques should ensure greater acceptance by the criminal justice system, leading to better detection outcomes

Individual differences in upright and inverted face recognition, simultaneous face matching and object recognition ability throughout the adult lifespan

Objectives: Superior face recognition ability is important for policing and other security roles, and selection of suitable staff for certain operations is essential. Age may be a factor. Our research aims were to enhance theoretical understanding of the relationship between different visual processing tasks, as well as to examine whether the normal mid-thirties peak in face recognition ability would transfer to alternative forensically-relevant face processing tests. Design: Correlational designs examined the relationships between upright and inverted face recognition, simultaneous face matching, object recognition and age in Experiment 1; and face matching CCTV images, passport images and age in Experiment 2. Methods: Worldwide media articles led to participants (n = 250,000) completing a ‘could you be a super-recogniser?’ teaser-test, and in Experiment 1, teaser-test high performers (n = 20,000+; 18-76 years-old) were recruited. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 5,000+) included Metropolitan Police ‘super-recognisers’. Results: Performances across all tests correlated. Face recognition ability peaked at approximately 34-years; face matching high-quality images at 36. Performance subsequently declined. In contrast, the face inversion effect positively correlated with age, while object recognition ability remained consistent throughout the lifespan. No reliable peak age was found for CCTV and passport image matching. Conclusions: The optimum age for high performance (including police officers) on forensic facial examination and recognition tasks appears to be the mid-thirties. Regardless of age, some exceptional participants made few errors on any task, and discussion will focus on these individuals, as well as how high performers in the police positively impact investigations

Cognitive and neural markers of super-recognisers’ face processing superiority and enhanced cross-age effect

Super-recognisers inhabit the extreme high end of an adult face processing ability spectrum in the population. While almost all research in this area has evaluated those with poor or mid-range abilities, evaluating whether super-recognisers’ superiority generates distinct electrophysiological brain activity, and transcends to different age group faces (i.e., children’s) is important for enhancing theoretical understanding of normal and impaired face processing. It may also be crucial for policing, as super-recognisers may be deployed to operations involving child identification and protection. In Experiment 1, super-recognisers (n = 315) outperformed controls (n = 499) at adult and infant face recognition, while also displaying larger cross-age effects. These findings were replicated in Experiment 2 (super-recognisers, n = 19; controls, n = 28), although one SR with frequent infant exposure showed no cross-age effect. Compared to controls, super-recognisers also generated significantly greater electrophysiological activity in event-related potentials associated with pictorial processing (P1) and explicit recognition (P600). Experiment 3, employing an upright and inverted sequential matching design found super-recognisers (n = 24) outperformed controls (n = 20) at adult and infant face matching, but showed no upright cross-age matching effects. Instead, they displayed larger inversion effects, and cross-age inversion effects, implicating the role of holistic processing in their perceptual superiority. Larger cross-age effects in recognition, but not matching suggests that super-recognisers’ adult face recognition is partly driven by experience. However, their enhanced infant face recognition suggest super-recognisers’ superiority is also experience-independent, results that have implications for policing and for models of face recognition