Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 21, 2025

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm
Published on: December 24, 2015
Recognising Familiar Faces Out of Context
Sarah Laurence1, Jordyn Eyre2, Ailsa Strathie3
1School of Psychology, 4212Keele University, UK.
Abstract:
Expertise in familiar face recognition has been well-documented in several studies. Here, we examined the role of context using a surprise lecturer recognition test. Across two experiments, we found few students recognised their lecturer when they were unexpected, but accuracy was higher when the lecturer was preceded by a prompt. Our findings suggest that familiar face recognition can be poor in unexpected contexts.
Related Concept Videos
Prosopagnosia
Nonconscious Mimicry
Association Areas of the Cortex
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function...
Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
Hindsight Biases

