Face Recognition

Taking things at face value: How social hierarchy influences perception

You may not get a second chance to make a first impression, but how important are first impressions really? According to the authors of an article recently published in the Psychonomic Society’s journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, “Human beings live in a social environment that functions through the establishment of hierarchies, with individuals acting as […]

Continue Reading

Wait … Does Stanley have a moustache? I’d remember if we were from the same race

Does Stanley Hudson, from The Office (US), sport a moustache? In an opener from the now-classic NBC sitcom, The Office (US), Dunder Mifflin staff members debate over whether their colleague has a moustache. The episode starts with the announcement that Stanley Hudson, a Black employee, is returning from his recent tonsillectomy, and his colleagues get […]

Continue Reading

What’s in a face? Can science help reduce racial tension?

Who would have thought that by June 2020 we would have encountered as many crises as there were months? January: #WW3 predicted as tensions rise between the US and Iran February: #Australian wildfires ablaze March: #WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic April: #Global economies plunge May: #BLM Black lives matter protests June: #Locust swarm While COVID-19 seems to […]

Continue Reading

Is that you? Detecting low occurring fake IDs

Dawn Weatherford (pictured on the right) recently published a paper about detecting fake IDs with co-authors William Blake Erickson, Jasmine Thomas, Mary Walker, and Barret Schein. The paper is called “You shall not pass: how facial variability and feedback affect the detection of low prevalence fake IDs” and appears in the Psychonomic Society journal Cognitive Research: Principles and […]

Continue Reading

When holistic isn’t a whole lot better: Eye-movements during face recognition reveal cognitive decline

There are certain truths in life that we may find difficult to accept. Some of these truths include admitting when we’re wrong, admitting when we’ve been beaten, and if you’re anything like me, admitting when you’ve gained a couple of pounds around the midsection (you know the ones that have inspired our New Year’s resolution […]

Continue Reading

When experience does not lead to expertise: Almost any passport will do

About 20 years ago a conference on working memory was held in Quebec City, Canada. One of the eminent visitors from the UK had to return home early. He successfully navigated to the Quebec City airport, flew to Toronto or Montreal to catch a connecting flight to Heathrow. All went well until a customs officer […]

Continue Reading

The strange Marine on the fridge that is me

For every cognitive ability, there are individual differences, and in the new special issue of Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (CRPI), the articles are focused on individual differences in face recognition. Given the universality of individual differences, the existence of differences in the ability to recognize faces isn’t news, but what has surprised researchers are […]

Continue Reading

Bank tellers, masks, and morphs: Individual differences in face recognition

Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (CRPI) has released the first batch of articles in a special issue dedicated to individual differences in face recognition. Karen Lander, Markus Bindemann, and I have co-organised this special issue. This post is based on the editorial overview that appears with the articles. In a narrative review of the topic […]

Continue Reading

Talent or 10,000 hours? Good seeing makes for good drawing

Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book Outliers popularized the idea that mastery requires practice. A lot of practice. According to the book’s often-repeated “ten-thousand-hour rule,” mastering a skill requires at least ten thousand hours of focused, deliberate practice. If you want to become a world-class musician, or chess player, or athlete, you can get there if you […]

Continue Reading

“You are never fully dressed without a smile” (But it makes you look older)

Smiles are . . .  Powerful.  Infectious.  Uplifting. . . .and Aging? In my younger days, I refereed high school and collegiate basketball and was often told that I needed to stop smiling on the court.  As one of my colleagues said, smiling made me look young, too attractive, not serious enough, and like I […]

Continue Reading