Frowd Charlie D, Skelton Faye, Hepton Gemma, Holden Laura, Minahil Simra, Pitchford Melanie, McIntyre Alex, Brown Charity, Hancock Peter J B
University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.
Sci Justice. 2013 Jun;53(2):89-97. doi: 10.1016/j.scijus.2012.12.004. Epub 2013 Jan 14.
Research has indicated that traditional methods for accessing facial memories usually yield unidentifiable images. Recent research, however, has made important improvements in this area to the witness interview, method used for constructing the face and recognition of finished composites. Here, we investigated whether three of these improvements would produce even-more recognisable images when used in conjunction with each other. The techniques are holistic in nature: they involve processes which operate on an entire face. Forty participants first inspected an unfamiliar target face. Nominally 24h later, they were interviewed using a standard type of cognitive interview (CI) to recall the appearance of the target, or an enhanced 'holistic' interview where the CI was followed by procedures for focussing on the target's character. Participants then constructed a composite using EvoFIT, a recognition-type system that requires repeatedly selecting items from face arrays, with 'breeding', to 'evolve' a composite. They either saw faces in these arrays with blurred external features, or an enhanced method where these faces were presented with masked external features. Then, further participants attempted to name the composites, first by looking at the face front-on, the normal method, and then for a second time by looking at the face side-on, which research demonstrates facilitates recognition. All techniques improved correct naming on their own, but together promoted highly-recognisable composites with mean naming at 74% correct. The implication is that these techniques, if used together by practitioners, should substantially increase the detection of suspects using this forensic method of person identification.
研究表明，传统的获取面部记忆的方法通常会产生无法识别的图像。然而，最近的研究在证人询问、用于构建面部的方法以及对完成的合成图像的识别等方面取得了重要进展。在这里，我们研究了其中三项改进措施相互结合使用时是否会产生更易于识别的图像。这些技术本质上是整体性的：它们涉及对整个面部进行操作的过程。40名参与者首先查看一张不熟悉的目标面孔。名义上24小时后，他们接受了标准类型的认知询问（CI）以回忆目标面孔的外貌，或者接受了一种增强的“整体”询问，即在CI之后采用专注于目标人物特征的程序。然后，参与者使用EvoFIT构建合成图像，EvoFIT是一种识别类型的系统，需要从面部阵列中反复选择项目，并通过“繁殖”来“进化”出合成图像。他们在这些阵列中看到的面孔要么外部特征模糊，要么采用一种增强方法，即这些面孔呈现时带有遮挡的外部特征。接着，更多参与者尝试识别合成图像，首先是正面观察面孔，这是常规方法，然后第二次是侧面观察面孔，研究表明这种方式有助于识别。所有技术单独使用时都提高了正确识别率，但结合使用时能促进产生高度可识别的合成图像，平均识别正确率达到74%。这意味着，如果从业者一起使用这些技术，应该会大幅提高使用这种法医身份识别方法来检测嫌疑人的成功率。
