Noyes, Eilidh, Davis, Josh P. ORCID: 0000-0003-0017-7159, Petrov, Nikolay, Gray, Katie and Ritchie, Kay (2021) The effect of face masks and sunglasses on identity and expression recognition with super-recognizers and typical observers. Royal Society Open Science, 8 (3):201169. ISSN 2054-5703 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201169)

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Abstract

Face masks present a new challenge to face identification (here matching) and emotion recognition in Western cultures. Here we present the results of three experiments that test the effect of masks, and also the effect of sunglasses (an occlusion that individuals tend to have more experienced with) on 1) familiar face matching, 2) unfamiliar face matching, and 3) emotion categorisation. Occlusion reduced accuracy in all three tasks, with most errors in the mask condition, however there was little difference in performance for faces in masks compared to faces in sunglasses. Super-recognisers, people who are highly skilled at matching unconcealed faces, were impaired by occlusion, but at the group level, performed with higher accuracy than controls on all tasks. Results inform psychology theory with implications for everyday interactions, security, and policing in a mask wearing society.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	super-recognisers; face recognition; face masks; face matching; CCTV
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development > Centre for Thinking and Learning Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Last Modified:	05 May 2022 12:06
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/36008

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