Bate Sarah, Frowd Charlie, Bennetts Rachel, Hasshim Nabil, Murray Ebony, Bobak Anna K, Wills Harriet, Richards Sarah
1Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, UK.
2School of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.
Cogn Res Princ Implic. 2018 Jun 27;3:22. doi: 10.1186/s41235-018-0116-5. eCollection 2018 Dec.
In recent years there has been growing interest in the identification of people with superior face recognition skills, for both theoretical and applied investigations. These individuals have mostly been identified via their performance on a single attempt at a tightly controlled test of face memory-the long form of the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT+). The consistency of their skills over a range of tests, particularly those replicating more applied policing scenarios, has yet to be examined systematically. The current investigation screened 200 people who believed they have superior face recognition skills, using the CFMT+ and three new, more applied tests (measuring face memory, face matching and composite-face identification in a crowd). Of the sample, 59.5% showed at least some consistency in superior face recognition performance, although only five individuals outperformed controls on overall indices of target-present and target-absent trials. Only one participant outperformed controls on the Crowds test, suggesting that some applied face recognition tasks require very specific skills. In conclusion, future screening protocols need to be suitably thorough to test for consistency in performance, and to allow different types of superior performer to be detected from the outset. Screening for optimal performers may sometimes need to directly replicate the task in question, taking into account target-present and target-absent performance. Self-selection alone is not a reliable means of identifying those at the top end of the face recognition spectrum.
近年来，无论是理论研究还是应用研究，对于识别具有卓越人脸识别技能的人都越来越感兴趣。这些人大多是通过他们在严格控制的面部记忆测试（剑桥面部记忆测试长版，即CFMT+）单次测试中的表现来识别的。他们在一系列测试中的技能一致性，尤其是那些复制更多应用警务场景的测试，尚未得到系统研究。当前的调查使用CFMT+以及三项新的、更具应用性的测试（测量面部记忆、面部匹配和人群中的合成面部识别）对200名认为自己具有卓越人脸识别技能的人进行了筛选。在样本中，59.5%的人在卓越人脸识别表现上至少有一定的一致性，尽管在有目标和无目标试验的总体指标上只有5人表现优于对照组。在人群测试中只有一名参与者表现优于对照组，这表明一些应用人脸识别任务需要非常特殊的技能。总之，未来的筛选方案需要足够全面，以测试表现的一致性，并从一开始就能够检测出不同类型的优秀表现者。筛选最佳表现者有时可能需要直接复制相关任务，同时考虑有目标和无目标的表现。仅靠自我选择并不是识别处于人脸识别能力顶尖水平者的可靠方法。
