Super-Recognizers – a novel diagnostic framework, 70 cases, and guidelines for future work

Ramon, Meike

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107809

Cited by 51 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…At the upper end of this spectrum are super-recognizers (SRs), originally reported by Russell et al 6 as possessing exceptional facial identity processing capabilities across a range of sub-processes, including face matching, recognition, and identification. Presently, though, there is limited empirical evidence concerning the factors underlying SRs’ extreme abilities 7 , 8 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, two aspects ubiquitously present in previous studies have hindered genuine progress in understanding the mechanisms underlying SRs’ superior abilities: (i) the use of inconsistent or inappropriate diagnostic criteria for assessing such skills; (ii) absence of studies systematically varying the information conveyed by face stimuli themselves. Here, with the goal of addressing these aspects, we studied a sample of SRs drawn from a large cohort of 70 individuals identified with a recently proposed conservative “diagnostic framework” for SR identification 8 . Two experiments systematically varied the spatial frequency content of face stimuli (in terms of its retinal availability and orientation), thus providing a greater level of granularity than previous studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since even the originators of the CFMT+ and CFPT conclude that SRs “are about as good (at face recognition) as many developmental prosopagnosics are bad” (p. 256), it is important that any criteria for SR assessment reflect individual differences at least as large at the upper end of the performance spectrum. Given that the above tests cannot do so alone, multidimensional assessments would be theoretically better suited to this end 8 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heterogeneous criteria between studies produce concomitantly heterogeneous data. Meanwhile, relatively lax criteria and/or insufficiently difficult tests would lead to increased rates of individuals incorrectly identified as SRs (i.e., false positives), which would in turn contribute to the heterogeneity reported in the SR literature 7 , 8 . Therefore, reduction of false positives—and by extension the advancement of our understanding of SRs’ abilities—requires a more conservative and widely agreed upon framework for their diagnosis 7 , 8 , 21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meanwhile, relatively lax criteria and/or insufficiently difficult tests would lead to increased rates of individuals incorrectly identified as SRs (i.e., false positives), which would in turn contribute to the heterogeneity reported in the SR literature 7 , 8 . Therefore, reduction of false positives—and by extension the advancement of our understanding of SRs’ abilities—requires a more conservative and widely agreed upon framework for their diagnosis 7 , 8 , 21 . Moreover, these criteria should be evaluated within the context of cross-task consistency within observers, for a variety of tasks/processes 4 , 5 , 7 , in order to determine whether SRs indeed live up to their namesake in distinguishing themselves from the general population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychophysical profiles in super-recognizers

Nador

Zoia

Pachai

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Facial identity matching ability varies widely, ranging from prosopagnosic individuals (who exhibit profound impairments in face cognition/processing) to so-called super-recognizers (SRs), possessing exceptional capacities. Yet, despite the often consequential nature of face matching decisions—such as identity verification in security critical settings—ability assessments tendentially rely on simple performance metrics on a handful of heterogeneously related subprocesses, or in some cases only a single measured subprocess. Unfortunately, methodologies of this ilk leave contributions of stimulus information to observed variations in ability largely un(der)specified. Moreover, they are inadequate for addressing the qualitative or quantitative nature of differences between SRs’ abilities and those of the general population. Here, therefore, we sought to investigate individual differences—among SRs identified using a novel conservative diagnostic framework, and neurotypical controls—by systematically varying retinal availability, bandwidth, and orientation of faces’ spatial frequency content in two face matching experiments. Psychophysical evaluations of these parameters’ contributions to ability reveal that SRs more consistently exploit the same spatial frequency information, rather than suggesting qualitatively different profiles between control observers and SRs. These findings stress the importance of optimizing procedures for SR identification, for example by including measures quantifying the consistency of individuals’ behavior.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychophysical profiles in super-recognizers

Nador

Zoia

Pachai

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Forensic facial examiners versus super‐recognizers: Evaluating behavior beyond accuracy

Hahn

Tang

Yates

et al. 2022

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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We evaluated the detailed, behavioral properties of face matching performance in two specialist groups: forensic facial examiners and super-recognizers. Both groups compare faces to determine identity with high accuracy and outperform the general population. Typically, facial examiners are highly trained; super-recognizers rely on natural ability. We found distinct behaviors between these two groups. Facial examiners took advantage of the full 7-point identity judgment scale; super-recognizers' judgments clustered toward highly confident decisions. Facial examiners' identity judgments for same-identities and different-identities mirrored each other; those from super-recognizers did not. Facial examiners showed higher identity judgment agreement than super-recognizers. Despite these qualitative differences, both groups showed insight into their own accuracy: more confident people and those who rated the task to be easier tended to be more accurate. These findings show that to better understand and interpret judgments according to the nature of someone's facial expertise, evaluations should assess more than accuracy.

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Sounds and speech: Individual differences in unfamiliar voice recognition

Sunilkumar

Kelly

Stevenage

et al. 2023

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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In several applied contexts (e.g., earwitness testimony), the accurate recognition of unfamiliar voices can be a critical part of the person identification process. However, recognising unfamiliar voices is prone to error. While such errors could be reduced by testing the proficiency of listeners, the established tests of unfamiliar voice matching (BVMT) and memory (GVMT) may be limited by their choice of stimuli (i.e., vowel‐sounds) and their design (i.e., using identical sounds at learning and test; GVMT). Here, we examine whether these sound‐based tests are predictive of performance on more naturalistic speech‐based tasks, and whether performance is consistent across task‐domain (matching/memory) and task‐modality (voices/faces). The findings show that while the BVMT was a robust predictor of speech‐based voice matching, this was not the case for the GVMT and speech‐based voice memory. In addition, we provide evidence for a potential common person recognition factor ‘p’. The theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

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Super-Recognizers – a novel diagnostic framework, 70 cases, and guidelines for future work

Cited by 51 publications

References 35 publications

Psychophysical profiles in super-recognizers

Psychophysical profiles in super-recognizers

Forensic facial examiners versus super‐recognizers: Evaluating behavior beyond accuracy

Sounds and speech: Individual differences in unfamiliar voice recognition

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