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Understanding the multiframe caricature advantage for recognizing facial composites

Frowd, Charlie D.; Skelton, Faye; Atherton, Chris; Pitchford, Melanie; Bruce, Vicki; Atkins, Rebecca; Gannon, Carol; Ross, David; Young, Fern; Nelson, Laura; Hepton, Gemma; McIntyre, Alex H.; Hancock, Peter J. B.

Authors

Charlie D. Frowd

Chris Atherton

Melanie Pitchford

Vicki Bruce

Rebecca Atkins

Carol Gannon

David Ross

Fern Young

Laura Nelson

Gemma Hepton

Peter J. B. Hancock



Abstract

Eyewitnesses often construct a ‘composite’ face of a person they saw commit a crime, a picture that police use to identify suspects. We described a technique (Frowd et al., 2007, Visual Cognition, 15, 1-31) based on facial caricature to facilitate recognition of these images: correct naming substantially improves when composites are seen with progressive positive caricature, where distinctive information is enhanced, and then with progressive negative caricature, the opposite. Over the course of four experiments, the underpinnings of this mechanism are explored. Positive-caricature levels were found to be largely responsible for improving naming of composites, with some benefit from negative-caricature levels. Also, different frame-presentation orders (forward, reverse, random, repeated) facilitated equivalent naming benefit relative to static composites. Overall, the data indicate that composites are usually constructed as negative caricatures.

Citation

Frowd, C. D., Skelton, F., Atherton, C., Pitchford, M., Bruce, V., Atkins, R., Gannon, C., Ross, D., Young, F., Nelson, L., Hepton, G., McIntyre, A. H., & Hancock, P. J. B. (2012). Understanding the multiframe caricature advantage for recognizing facial composites. Visual Cognition, 20(10), 1215-1241. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2012.743936

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 20, 2012
Online Publication Date Dec 14, 2012
Publication Date 2012-12
Deposit Date Jun 10, 2015
Publicly Available Date Jun 10, 2015
Journal Visual Cognition
Print ISSN 1350-6285
Electronic ISSN 1464-0716
Publisher Taylor and Francis
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 20
Issue 10
Pages 1215-1241
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2012.743936
Keywords Caricature; Face space; Facial composite; Memory; Witness
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/8526
Publisher URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13506285.2012.743936

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