Applied screening tests for the detection of superior face recognition

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Forensic Science

Background:

• Growing interest in identifying individuals with exceptional face recognition abilities for theoretical and applied research.
• Current identification methods primarily rely on single-attempt performance on controlled tests like the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT+).
• The consistency and generalizability of these superior skills across diverse, applied scenarios remain underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically examine the consistency of superior face recognition skills across a range of tests, including applied policing scenarios.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of current screening methods and propose improvements for identifying individuals with genuine, robust face recognition expertise.
• To investigate whether self-identified superior face recognizers maintain their advantage across different types of face identification tasks.

Main Methods:

• Screening of 200 self-identified individuals with superior face recognition abilities.
• Utilized the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT+) alongside three novel, applied tests: face memory, face matching, and composite-face identification in a crowd.
• Compared participant performance against control groups to establish benchmarks for superior performance.

Main Results:

• 59.5% of the sample demonstrated some consistency in superior face recognition performance across tests.
• Only a small number of individuals (five) significantly outperformed controls on overall target-present and target-absent trials.
• Exceptional performance on the Crowds test was rare, with only one participant exceeding control levels, indicating task-specific skill requirements.

Conclusions:

• Self-selection is insufficient for reliably identifying individuals with top-tier face recognition skills.
• Future screening protocols must incorporate multiple, diverse tasks to assess performance consistency and detect various types of superior abilities.
• Applied face recognition screening should directly replicate relevant tasks, considering both target-present and target-absent conditions to accurately identify optimal performers.