The effect of face masks on forensic face matching: An individual differences study.

Abstract

In the forensic face matching task, observers are presented with two unfamiliar faces and must determine whether they depict the same identity. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some governmental authorities require the use of face masks in public spaces. However, recent research has shown that face masks impair face identification. The present study explores the effect of face masks on forensic face matching using an individual differences approach. Compared to a full-view condition, performance decreased when a face mask was superimposed on one face (Experiment 1) and both faces (Experiment 2) of a pair. Although a positive correlation between the full-view and the mask conditions was found, high proficiency in the full-view condition did not always generalize to the mask condition. Additionally, the mask generally has a more negative impact on those participants with better performance in the full-view condition. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Detecting a familiar person behind the surgical mask: recognition without identification among masked versus sunglasses-covered faces

“…The significant impairment to face identification caused by surgical masks is perhaps not surprising in light of recent research on the various ways in which surgical masks impair face processing (e.g., Carragher & Hancock, 2020;Estudillo et al, 2021;Freud et al, 2020). However, the present study extends these findings by showing dramatic impairment to identification of known faces that would have been identifiable to the participants if not occluded by a surgical mask, and by showing even more dramatic impairment to identification of known faces when sunglasses instead of surgical masks are occluding parts of the face.…”

“…The ability to recognize people from faces may be challenging when a face is partially occluded. Recent research spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that a surgical mask over the mouth and nose of a face impairs individuals’ ability to process that face (Carragher & Hancock, 2020 ; Estudillo et al, 2021 ; Freud et al, 2020 ). In the present study, we investigate whether people can sense familiarity with a surgically masked face when the masked person cannot be consciously identified, in a phenomenon that might be akin to recognition without identification (RWI) of noise-masked faces (e.g., Cleary et al, 2013 ), or whether surgical masks prevent the type of familiarity-detection with a face that would allow for such RWI to occur.…”

“…Research occurring since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that surgical masks create substantial impairments in various aspects of face processing (Carragher & Hancock, 2020 ; Estudillo et al, 2021 ; Freud et al, 2020 ; Stajduhar et al, 2022 ). For example, Freud et al ( 2020 ) administered the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT; Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006 ), a standardized measure of face recognition that asks participants to first learn a set of novel faces and then later choose a studied face from among three alternatives.…”

“…However, there is reason to hypothesize that faces are less likely to be decomposed into constituent features than other types of stimuli and are instead more likely to be processed holistically (Bruce & Young, 2012 ; Maurer et al, 2002 ; Meltzer & Bartlett, 2019 ; Tanaka & Farah, 1993 ; Tanaka & Simonyi, 2016 ), which may be a reason why surgical masks disrupt so many different aspects of face processing (Carragher & Hancock, 2020 ; Estudillo et al, 2021 ; Freud et al, 2020 ; Stajduhar et al, 2022 ). If so, then familiarity-detection during face identification failure might be impeded by occluding the nose and mouth with a surgical mask, as evidence suggests that surgical masks disrupt holistic processing of faces (Stajduhar et al, 2022 ).…”

“…The ability to recognize people from faces may be challenging when a face is partially occluded. Recent research spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that a surgical mask over the mouth and nose of a face impairs individuals' ability to process that face (Carragher & Hancock, 2020;Estudillo et al, 2021;Freud et al, 2020).…”