Insight into Face Identity Recognition Ability: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Face recognition ability is crucial for social interaction.
• The accuracy of self-perceived face recognition compared to objective measures is not well understood.
• Understanding this relationship is key for diagnosing face recognition deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the strength of the relationship between self-reported and objectively measured face recognition ability.
• To identify moderators influencing this relationship.
• To assess the utility of self-report measures in identifying face recognition difficulties.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across five databases (CINAHL, Medline, PsycInfo, Scopus, ProQuest).
• Inclusion criteria: English language, adult samples, objective face recognition task, self-reported face recognition measure, and reported relationship.
• A random effects meta-analysis with robust variance estimation was performed on 141 effect sizes from 44 studies (N=11,074).

Main Results:

• A significant, medium-strength positive relationship was found between self-reported and objective face recognition ability (r=.26).
• The relationship was strongest in mixed samples of neurotypicals and developmental prosopagnosics (r=.64).
• Face memory tasks showed a stronger effect size (r=.30) than face perception tasks (r=.21). Heterogeneity was noted in neurotypical samples.

Conclusions:

• Individuals possess modest insight into their face recognition capabilities.
• Self-report measures have limited utility for accurately identifying face recognition impairments.
• Methodological variations in studies, particularly concerning neurotypical samples, warrant further investigation.