McIntyre Alex H, Hancock Peter J B, Frowd Charlie D, Langton Stephen R H
School of Natural Science, University of Stirling.
School of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire.
Law Hum Behav. 2016 Apr;40(2):128-35. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000160. Epub 2015 Oct 5.
Facial composite systems help eyewitnesses to show the appearance of criminals. However, likenesses created by unfamiliar witnesses will not be completely accurate, and people familiar with the target can find them difficult to identify. Faces are processed holistically; we explore whether this impairs identification of inaccurate composite images and whether recognition can be improved. In Experiment 1 (n = 64) an imaging technique was used to make composites of celebrity faces more accurate and identification was contrasted with the original composite images. Corrected composites were better recognized, confirming that errors in production of the likenesses impair identification. The influence of holistic face processing was explored by misaligning the top and bottom parts of the composites (cf. Young, Hellawell, & Hay, 1987). Misalignment impaired recognition of corrected composites but identification of the original, inaccurate composites significantly improved. This effect was replicated with facial composites of noncelebrities in Experiment 2 (n = 57). We conclude that, like real faces, facial composites are processed holistically: recognition is impaired because unlike real faces, composites contain inaccuracies and holistic face processing makes it difficult to perceive identifiable features. This effect was consistent across composites of celebrities and composites of people who are personally familiar. Our findings suggest that identification of forensic facial composites can be enhanced by presenting composites in a misaligned format.
面部合成系统帮助目击者展现罪犯的外貌。然而，由不熟悉的目击者创建的画像不会完全准确，而且熟悉目标人物的人可能会觉得难以辨认。面部是作为一个整体被处理的；我们探究这是否会妨碍对不准确合成图像的辨认，以及辨认是否可以得到改善。在实验1（n = 64）中，使用一种成像技术使名人面部的合成画像更准确，并将辨认结果与原始合成图像进行对比。校正后的合成画像得到了更好的辨认，这证实了画像制作中的错误会妨碍辨认。通过使合成画像的上下部分错位来探究整体面部处理的影响（参见Young、Hellawell和Hay，1987）。错位妨碍了对校正后合成画像的辨认，但对原始的、不准确的合成画像的辨认显著提高。在实验2（n = 57）中，对非名人的面部合成画像也重复了这一效应。我们得出结论，与真实面孔一样，面部合成画像也是作为一个整体被处理的：辨认受到妨碍是因为与真实面孔不同，合成画像包含不准确之处，而整体面部处理使得难以感知可辨认的特征。这种效应在名人合成画像和熟悉人物的合成画像中都是一致的。我们的研究结果表明，以错位的形式呈现合成画像可以提高对法医面部合成画像的辨认。
