Evaluating the Reliability and Validity of the Famous Faces Doppelgangers Test, a Novel Measure of Familiar Face Recognition

Abstract

Face recognition assessments that use images of celebrities require not only face recognition ability but also pop-culture knowledge and successful recall of identifying information. Here, we introduce a task designed to measure face recognition more specifically: the Famous Faces Doppelgangers Test (FFDT). Participants ( N = 57,407) identified 40 celebrities paired with lookalike doppelgangers, allowing face recognition ability to be assessed without requiring information recall. In addition, participants reported whether they were familiar with each celebrity, allowing poor face recognition ability to be differentiated from low pop-culture knowledge. FFDT performance was reliable ( rxx = .80), similar across participants of different racial and ethnic groups, and more highly correlated with memory for faces ( r = .50) and self-reported face recognition ability ( r = .48) than processing speed ability ( r = .10). Thus, the FFDT is a reliable, valid, and specific measure of the ability to identify familiar faces, making it a promising new tool for assessing face recognition ability.

The Italian Famous Face Test (IT-FFT): Normative data from neurotypical individuals and an assessment of its sensitivity in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

“…Given the significance and complexity of human face processing, it's crucial to utilize effective evaluation measures to discern each of these processes and their associated skills. However, While several standardized tasks have been developed for face perception (e.g., Cambridge Face Perception Test 12 ) and memory (e.g., Cambridge Face Memory Test 13 ), only a few reliable and widly accepted famous face tests have been created, with the main limitation to be country-specific, age-specific, and, sometimes, paper-based [14][15][16] To our knowledge, there is only one famous face test validated on an Italian sample 15 , but stimuli selection and data collection occurred more than 20 years ago, a long span for such a time-dependent test.…”

Normative data of the Italian Famous Face Test

“…Given the significance and complexity of human face processing, it's crucial to utilize effective evaluation measures to discern each of these processes and their associated skills. However, while several standardized tasks have been developed for face perception (e.g., Cambridge Face Perception Test 12 ) and memory (e.g., Cambridge Face Memory Test 13 ), only a few reliable and widely accepted famous face tests have been created, with the main limitation to be country-specific, age-specific, and, sometimes, paper-based 14 – 16 . To our knowledge, there is only one famous face test validated on an Italian sample 15 , but stimuli selection and data collection occurred more than 20 years ago, a long span for such a time-dependent test.…”