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A criterion-placement theory of face matching
Kristen A Baker1, Catherine J Mondloch2, Peter J B Hancock3
1School of Psychology, University of Kent, UK.
Cognition
|September 27, 2025
Summary
Individual differences in decision thresholds explain apparent dissociation in face matching performance. Controlling for response biases reveals a link between identifying matches and mismatches.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Forensic Science
Background:
- Face matching involves binary decisions on image pairs: identity match or mismatch.
- Performance on match and mismatch trials often appears dissociable, complicating theoretical models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the dissociation between match and mismatch performance in face matching.
- To demonstrate that response biases, not separate cognitive processes, underlie this dissociation.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two experiments with over 500 participants performing various face-matching tasks.
- Utilized data simulations and statistical methods to control for response biases.
- Analyzed classification accuracy after partialling out individual differences in decision thresholds.
Main Results:
- Systematic response biases were identified as the cause of the apparent dissociation.
- Controlling for these biases revealed significant associations between match and mismatch identification accuracy.
- Individual differences in decision threshold placement reliably link performance on both trial types.
Conclusions:
- The apparent dissociation in face-matching performance is an artifact of response biases.
- Cognitive models should account for individual differences in decision thresholds to explain performance links.
- This provides a unified mechanism for understanding face identification and discrimination.
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