Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit 1

Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit

Renee Chen Sze Ling

University of Wollongong

PSYC327: Advanced Topics in Cognition

Simone Favelle and Leonie Miller

19 August 2022

Word Count: 900 words

Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit 2

Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit

The face is an important tool that helps us with many tasks. In particular, it is a vital

part of our identity (Dowsett & Burton, 2015). Many daily activities require identification of

a face such as getting across borders or buying liquor (Kemp et al., 2016; Dowsett & Burton,

2015). This often requires the recognition of an unfamiliar face by comparing the face of the

person with the photograph on the legal document that is presented (Kemp et al., 2016).

However, it was shown that unfamiliar face matching is profoundly susceptible to errors

whereas humans are better at recognizing familiar faces (Hunnisett & Favelle, 2021). Hence,

this emphasizes the need to examine ways in which unfamiliar face recognition can be

improved.

There are multiple explanations to why familiar face recognition is far superior. One

of which would be that familiar faces are seen in a diverse range of circumstances and

settings, where ample information regarding the face is available (Ritchie et al., 2021). In

addition, being exposed manifold to this information allows for observing minute changes in

a person’s appearance, also known as within-person variability (Ritchie et al., 2021). This

allows an extraction of the stable diagnostic features and helps us eliminate surface

differences, thus generating an abstract processing of familiar faces (Ritchie et al., 2021).

Hence, unfamiliar face recognition where within-person variability is not apprehended will be

influenced by surface image information such as lighting or angles and results in a decline in

performance (Kramer et al., 2018).

Numerous researches have been done to scrutinize the conditions driving unfamiliar

face recognition. It was contemplated that providing more than one photograph was of

importance. Through the study conducted by Dowsett et al. (2016) it was shown that by

increasing the number of photographs, performance did increase. This was attributed to
Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit 3

recognizing the face under different circumstances and thus, increasing the number of

photographs increased the participants’ knowledge of the target’s face also known as a

multiple image benefit (Dowsett et al, 2016). This was also supported by another study

conducted by Hunnisett and Favelle (2021) where they examined the effects of showing one

or three image arrays on an unfamiliar face matching task. The results were consistent with

previous research that providing more than one photograph entails a multiple image benefit

(Hunnisett & Favelle, 2021).

Although a multiple image benefit has been found to improve performance, it has

been shown to only occur in certain task structures. The two commonly used task structures

are the simultaneous and sequential matching task (Hunnisett & Favelle, 2021). In the

simultaneous matching task, the target photograph and image arrays are presented together

and participants toggle between the photographs for a comparison, thus no memory of the

target is needed. (de Gelder & Bertelson, 2009; Menon et al., 2015). On the other hand, in the

sequential matching task the target photograph and image arrays are separated by a short

delay which involves a memory component where participants have to encode the details of

the unfamiliar face (Menon et al., 2015). In the study conducted by White et al. (2014)

investigating the effects of using multiple photographs on a simultaneous face matching task,

it was shown that a multiple image effect was present. This was understood as a function of

recognising the target face using the photograph that best matched the target, a pairwise

strategy (Ritchie et al., 2021). However, this was contradicted by the study conducted by

Dowsett et al. (2016) where results have shown that a multiple image benefit was only found

in the sequential face matching task in which the abstract encoding of the details of the target

face contributed to the multiple image benefit observed (Dowsett et al., 2016).

In addition, it has also been suggested that stimulus differences could have been a

contributing factor. According to the study conducted by Ritchie et al. (2021), whose
Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit 4

experiment 2 tested the effects of different levels of variability on unfamiliar face matching,

he presumed that past researches that have found a multiple image benefit for simultaneous

face matching could have used photographs of a higher variability. This was supported by

another study conducted by Ritchie and Burton (2017) examining the effects of learning a

face using photographs with high or low variability. Results have also shown that

performance was better when the image arrays were of a high variability (Ritchie & Burton,

2017). This shows a unanimous interpretation that photo arrays with a high variability assists

unfamiliar face matching.

This report seeks to address the conditions which a multiple image benefit occur in a

simultaneous unfamiliar face matching task. A simultaneous 2-alternative forced choice

(2AFC) paradigm which contains a target photograph and a distractor (Finley et al., 2015)

was used in comparison to a simultaneous same or different matching task. This was to

induce an abstraction and prohibit direct comparison. A comparison of the effects using high

and low variability image arrays as well as 1 and 3 image arrays will be conducted. With the

results of previous researches, it is first hypothesised that, for the simultaneous same or

different matching task, there will be no difference in the performance amongst the 1 or 3

image arrays and no difference in the performance amongst the high or low image

variabilities. Lastly, it was hypothesized that in the simultaneous 2AFC matching task, the 3

image arrays and high variability images will produce a better performance.
Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit 5

References

Dowsett, A. J., & Burton, A. M. (2015). Unfamiliar face matching: Pairs out-perform

individuals and provide a route to training. British Journal of Psychology, 106(3),

433-445. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12103

Dowsett, A. J., Sandford, A., & Burton, A. M. (2016). Face learning with multiple images

leads to fast acquisition of familiarity for specific individuals. The Quarterly Journal

of Experimental Psychology, 69(1), 1-10.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1017513

de Gelder, B., & Bertelson, P. (2009). A comparative approach to testing face perception:

Face and object identification by adults in a simultaneous matching

task. Psychologica Belgica, 49(2-3), 177–190. https://doi.org/10.5334/pb-49-2-3-177

Finley, J. R., Roediger, H. L. III., Hughes, A. D., Wahlheim, C. N., & Jacoby, L. L. (2015).

Simultaneous versus sequential presentation in testing recognition memory for faces.

The American Journal of Psychology, 128(2), 173-195.

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Hunnisett, N., & Favelle, S. (2021). Within-person variability can improve the identification

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Experimental Psychology, 74(11), 1873-1887.

https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218211009771

Kemp, R. I., Caon, A., Howard, M., & Brooks, K. R. (2016). Improving unfamiliar face

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Kramer, R. S. S., Young, A. W., & Burton, A. M. (2018). Understanding face familiarity.

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Unfamiliar Face Matching Task and Multiple Image Benefit 6

Menon, N., White, D., & Kemp, R. I. (2015). Identity-level representations affect unfamiliar

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