Face Feature Change Detection Ability in Developmental Prosopagnosia and Super-Recognisers.

In non-clinical populations, facial features (eyes, nose, mouth) may vary in their contribution to face identity perception. Changes to whole faces are easier to detect than changes to individual features, and eye changes are typically easier to detect than mouth changes, which in turn are easier to detect than nose changes. However, how this differs for people with face recognition difficulties (developmental prosopagnosia; DP) and for individuals with superior face recognition abilities (super-recognisers; SR) is not clear; although findings from previous studies have suggested differences, the nature of this difference is not understood. The aim of this study was to examine whether differences in the ability to detect feature changes in DPs and SRs were (a) quantitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes remained the same but there was an overall upwards or downwards shift in performance, or (b) qualitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes was different. Using a change detection task in which individual face features (eyes, nose, mouth) changed between sequentially presented faces, we found that while prosopagnosics showed a quantitative difference in performance with a downwards shift across all conditions, super-recognisers only showed qualitative differences: they were better able to detect when the face was the same and were marginally (but not non-significantly) worse at detecting when the eyes changed. Further, the only condition which distinguished between the three groups was the ability to identify when the same face was presented, with SRs being better than controls, and controls being better than DPs. Our findings suggest that, in feature-matching tasks, differences for DPs are due to them being overall worse at the task, while SRs use a qualitatively different strategy.

Face masks and fake masks: the effect of real and superimposed masks on face matching with super-recognisers, typical observers, and algorithms.

Mask wearing has been required in various settings since the outbreak of COVID-19, and research has shown that identity judgements are difficult for faces wearing masks. To date, however, the majority of experiments on face identification with masked faces tested humans and computer algorithms using images with superimposed masks rather than images of people wearing real face coverings. In three experiments we test humans (control participants and super-recognisers) and algorithms with images showing different types of face coverings. In all experiments we tested matching concealed or unconcealed faces to an unconcealed reference image, and we found a consistent decrease in face matching accuracy with masked compared to unconcealed faces. In Experiment 1, typical human observers were most accurate at face matching with unconcealed images, and poorer for three different types of superimposed mask conditions. In Experiment 2, we tested both typical observers and super-recognisers with superimposed and real face masks, and found that performance was poorer for real compared to superimposed masks. The same pattern was observed in Experiment 3 with algorithms. Our results highlight the importance of testing both humans and algorithms with real face masks, as using only superimposed masks may underestimate their detrimental effect on face identification.

Evaluating earwitness identification procedures: adapting pre-parade instructions and parade procedure.

Voice identification parades can be unreliable, as earwitness responses are error-prone. In this paper we tested performance across serial and sequential procedures, and varied pre-parade instructions, with the aim of reducing errors. The participants heard a target voice and later attempted to identify it from a parade. In Experiment 1 they were either warned that the target may or may not be present (standard warning) or encouraged to consider responding "not present" because of the associated risk of a wrongful conviction (strong warning). Strong warnings prompted a conservative criterion shift, with participants less likely to make a positive identification regardless of whether the target was present. In contrast to previous findings, we found no statistically reliable difference in accuracy between serial and sequential parades. Experiment 2 ruled out a potential confound in Experiment 1. Taken together, our results suggest that adapting pre-parade instructions provides a simple way of reducing the risk of false identifications.

The "Casting Couch" Scenario: Impact of Perceived Employment Benefit, Reporting Delay, Complainant Gender, and Participant Gender on Juror Decision-Making in Rape Cases.

Recent legal and media reports of contemporary and historical rape and sexual assault cases have focused on the entertainment industry, particularly around the notion of the "casting couch." This scenario, in which a powerful figure obtains sometimes nonconsensual sexual acts from subordinate actors in exchange for employment, was used to explore the influence of rape myths and Sexual Economics Theory on mock-juror decision-making. Participant-jurors (n = 907) viewed video and written testimony of a complainant, accusing a male producer of rape. Complainant gender (male, female), delay before reporting the incident to the police (immediately, 6 months, 10 years), and complainant casting in the production were randomly varied (acting role secured, not secured). The strongest effects were that females (79.7%) were significantly more likely than males (62.7%) to deliver a guilty verdict and to recommend longer prison sentences for the offence. When the complainant did not secure the acting role, and they delayed reporting the incident for six months, there was an interaction between complainant gender and verdict. No interacting complainant gender effects on trial outcomes were found in the other delay conditions, or when the actor secured employment. Defendant guilt attributions to the male and female complainant were also differently influenced by rape myth belief levels and homophobic attitudes, but not beliefs in a just world. The casting couch euphemism, reported worldwide, suggests industry acceptance, and may sanitize the act of demanding sex and even committing rape. However, these results have important implications for any occupational setting in which men in positions of power may sexually exploit junior staff.

Alcohol Consumption during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period: Predictors of At-Risk Drinking at Different AUDIT-C Cut-Off Thresholds.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption was largely confined to drinking in the home. There has been little research examining variables associated with risk in home drinking. The study employed an online survey of (n = 1128) individuals who had been recruited for their face recognition skills (n = 838, 70.9% females, mean age 45.05 (12.3 SD)). The main dependent variables were three different AUDIT-C cut-off scores for at-risk drinking: (a) 5 for both genders as recommended by Public Health England, (b) 7 for females and 8 for males (cut-off for students and young people) and (c) 8 for both genders (individuals seeking online help for their drinking). Among the independent variables were gender and age, motivations for home drinking using the Home Drinking Assessment Scale (HDAS), purchasing patterns, context of drinking and health and wellbeing. The predictors following hierarchical logistic regressions were for (a) purchasing alcohol online or at a supermarket and emotional HDAS scores, (b) purchasing alcohol online or at a supermarket and for parties, drinking alone and with other members of the household and emotional and practical reason HDAS scores, (c) as for b with the addition that men were more likely to be at-risk drinkers. At-risk drinking in the pandemic was explained by motivational reasons, purchasing patterns and situational factors.

Low prevalence match and mismatch detection in simultaneous face matching: Influence of face recognition ability and feature focus guidance.

Simultaneous face matching to verify identity is key to security and policing. However, matching is error-prone, particularly when target-item prevalence is low. Two experiments examined whether superior face recognition ability and the use of internal or external facial feature guidance scales would reduce low prevalence effects. In Experiment 1, super-recognisers (n = 317) significantly outperformed typical-ability controls (n = 452), while internal feature guidance enhanced accuracy across all prevalence conditions. However, an unexpected effect in controls revealed higher accuracy in low prevalence conditions, probably because no low-match or low-mismatch prevalence information was provided. In Experiment 2, top-end-of-typical range ability participants (n = 841) were informed of their low prevalence condition and demonstrated the expected low-prevalence effects. Findings and implications are discussed.

The part-whole effect in super-recognisers and typical-range-ability controls.

Face recognition skills are distributed on a continuum, with developmental prosopagnosics and super-recognisers at the bottom and top ends, respectively. Holistic processing propensity is associated with face recognition ability and may be impaired in some developmental prosopagnosics and enhanced in some super-recognisers. Across two experiments we compared holistic processing of 75 super-recognisers and 89 typical-range ability controls using The Part-Whole Effect (PWE) paradigm. A subgroup of super-recognisers demonstrated enhanced PWEs in the nose region, suggesting they integrate the nose into the holistic face percept more effectively than controls. Focussed processing of the nose region, an optimal viewing position to extract the holistic properties of faces, has previously been associated with superior face recognition, and this may partly explain the superiority of some super-recognisers. However, a few super-recognisers generated extreme nose region performance patterns in an opposite direction across both experiments, suggesting their superiority is driven by alternative mechanisms. These results support proposals that super-recognition is associated with heterogeneous underlying processes.

The effect of face masks and sunglasses on identity and expression recognition with super-recognizers and typical observers.

Face masks present a new challenge to face identification (here matching) and emotion recognition in Western cultures. Here, we present the results of three experiments that test the effect of masks, and also the effect of sunglasses (an occlusion that individuals tend to have more experienced with) on (i) familiar face matching, (ii) unfamiliar face matching and (iii) emotion categorization. Occlusion reduced accuracy in all three tasks, with most errors in the mask condition; however, there was little difference in performance for faces in masks compared with faces in sunglasses. Super-recognizers, people who are highly skilled at matching unconcealed faces, were impaired by occlusion, but at the group level, performed with higher accuracy than controls on all tasks. Results inform psychology theory with implications for everyday interactions, security and policing in a mask-wearing society.

Performance of typical and superior face recognizers on a novel interactive face matching procedure.

Unfamiliar simultaneous face matching is error prone. Reducing incorrect identification decisions will positively benefit forensic and security contexts. The absence of view-independent information in static images likely contributes to the difficulty of unfamiliar face matching. We tested whether a novel interactive viewing procedure that provides the user with 3D structural information as they rotate a facial image to different orientations would improve face matching accuracy. We tested the performance of 'typical' (Experiment 1) and 'superior' (Experiment 2) face recognizers, comparing their performance using high-quality (Experiment 3) and pixelated (Experiment 4) Facebook profile images. In each trial, participants responded whether two images featured the same person with one of these images being either a static face, a video providing orientation information, or an interactive image. Taken together, the results show that fluid orientation information and interactivity prompt shifts in criterion and support matching performance. Because typical and superior face recognizers both benefited from the structural information provided by the novel viewing procedures, our results point to qualitatively similar reliance on pictorial encoding in these groups. This also suggests that interactive viewing tools can be valuable in assisting face matching in high-performing practitioner groups.

Juror Decision Making in Acquaintance and Marital Rape: The Influence of Clothing, Alcohol, and Preexisting Stereotypical Attitudes.

Stereotypical biases about women's roles in intimate relationships including their marital status and lifestyle choices such as clothing and alcohol use influence juror attributions of rape case defendant guilt, potentially reducing access to justice for victims. Across two mock-juror decision-making experiments, participants read identical fictitious sexual assault vignettes varying in intoxicated defendant-complainant relationship (married vs. acquaintance), accompanied by photographs of complainant clothing at the crime (body revealing vs. plain) and in court (smart vs. casual). Experiment 2 additionally described the defendant's alcohol consumption as either under or over the drink drive limit. Most participants delivered guilty verdicts (Experiment 1: 86.7%; Experiment 2: 75.5%), recommending mean prison sentences of 5.04 years in Experiment 1 (n = 218 students) and 4.33 years in Experiment 2 (n = 1,086 members of public). In Experiment 1, guilty verdict rates and sentences were significantly higher when the married-but not the acquaintance-complainant dressed smartly rather than casually in court. In Experiment 2, significantly more guilty verdicts were delivered by females (80.3%) than males (66.9%), while sentence lengths were longer in acquaintance (M = 4.52 years) than married conditions (M = 4.10). Significant interactions between defendant alcohol use and clothing choice of the married-but not the acquaintance complainant-at the crime also influenced sentencing decisions. Higher scores on additionally administered scales measuring rape myth acceptance and sexist attitudes, but not alcohol expectancies, predicted lenient sentencing decisions in both experiments. These findings highlight how "rape myths" concerning marriages drive juror decisions. Prosecuting lawyers should use these results to better challenge these attitudes in court. Internationally, rape is often unreported to the police, and married victims may be more willing to come forward if they believe unbiased access to justice is likely.

UNSW Face Test: A screening tool for super-recognizers.

We present a new test-the UNSW Face Test (www.unswfacetest.com)-that has been specifically designed to screen for super-recognizers in large online cohorts and is available free for scientific use. Super-recognizers are people that demonstrate sustained performance in the very top percentiles in tests of face identification ability. Because they represent a small proportion of the population, screening large online cohorts is an important step in their initial recruitment, before confirmatory testing via standardized measures and more detailed cognitive testing. We provide normative data on the UNSW Face Test from 3 cohorts tested via the internet (combined n = 23,902) and 2 cohorts tested in our lab (combined n = 182). The UNSW Face Test: (i) captures both identification memory and perceptual matching, as confirmed by correlations with existing tests of these abilities; (ii) captures face-specific perceptual and memorial abilities, as confirmed by non-significant correlations with non-face object processing tasks; (iii) enables researchers to apply stricter selection criteria than other available tests, which boosts the average accuracy of the individuals selected in subsequent testing. Together, these properties make the test uniquely suited to screening for super-recognizers in large online cohorts.

Clinical Characteristics, Etiology, and Initial Management Strategy of Newly Diagnosed Periprosthetic Joint Infection: A Multicenter, Prospective Observational Cohort Study of 783 Patients.

BACKGROUND: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating complication of joint replacement surgery. Most observational studies of PJI are retrospective or single-center, and reported management approaches and outcomes vary widely. We hypothesized that there would be substantial heterogeneity in PJI management and that most PJIs would present as late acute infections occurring as a consequence of bloodstream infections. METHODS: The Prosthetic joint Infection in Australia and New Zealand, Observational (PIANO) study is a prospective study at 27 hospitals. From July 2014 through December 2017, we enrolled all adults with a newly diagnosed PJI of a large joint. We collected data on demographics, microbiology, and surgical and antibiotic management over the first 3 months postpresentation. RESULTS: We enrolled 783 patients (427 knee, 323 hip, 25 shoulder, 6 elbow, and 2 ankle). The mode of presentation was late acute (>30 days postimplantation and <7 days of symptoms; 351, 45%), followed by early (≤30 days postimplantation; 196, 25%) and chronic (>30 days postimplantation with ≥30 days of symptoms; 148, 19%). Debridement, antibiotics, irrigation, and implant retention constituted the commonest initial management approach (565, 72%), but debridement was moderate or less in 142 (25%) and the polyethylene liner was not exchanged in 104 (23%). CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to most studies, late acute infection was the most common mode of presentation, likely reflecting hematogenous seeding. Management was heterogeneous, reflecting the poor evidence base and the need for randomized controlled trials.

Antibiotic stewardship in skin infections: a cross-sectional analysis of early-career GP's management of impetigo.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the prevalence and associations of systemic antibiotic prescription for impetigo by early-career general practitioners (GPs) (GP registrars in their first 18 months in general practice). DESIGN: A cross-sectional analysis of data from the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) study. SETTING: ReCEnT is an ongoing multisite cohort study of Australian registrars' in-consultation clinical practice across five Australian states. PARTICIPANTS: Registrars participating in ReCEnT from 2010 to 2017. OUTCOME MEASURES: Management of impetigo with systemic antibiotics. RESULTS: 1741 registrars (response rate 96%) provided data from 384 731 problems identified in 246 434 consultations. Impetigo, on first presentation or follow-up, was managed in 930 (0.38%, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.40) consultations and comprised 0.24% (95% CI 0.23 to 0.26) of problems. 683 patients presented with a new diagnosis of impetigo of which 38/683 (5.6%) were not prescribed antibiotics; 239/683 (35.0%) were prescribed solely topical antibiotics; 306/683 (44.8%) solely systemic antibiotics and 100/683 (14.6%) both systemic and topical antibiotics. The most common systemic antibiotic prescribed was cephalexin (53.5%). Variables independently associated with prescription of systemic antibiotics were an inner regional (compared with major city) location (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.06 to 3.13; p=0.028), seeking in-consultation information or advice (OR 2.17, 95% CI 1.47 to 3.23; p<0.001) and ordering pathology (OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.37 to 3.33; p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Australian early-career GPs prescribe systemic antibiotics (the majority broad-spectrum) for a high proportion of initial impetigo presentations. Impetigo guidelines should clearly specify criteria for systemic antibiotic prescription and individual antibiotic choice. The role of non-antibiotic management and topical antiseptics needs to be explored further.

The wisdom of the crowd: A case of post- to ante-mortem face matching by police super-recognisers.

This case report describes novel methodology used to identify a 43-year-old post-mortem photo of a drowned male recovered from a London river in the 1970s. Embedded in an array of foils, police super-recognisers (n=25) possessing superior simultaneous face matching ability, and police controls (n=139) provided confidence ratings as to the similarity of the post-mortem photo to an ante-mortem photo of a man who went missing at about the same time. Indicative of a match, compared to controls, super-recognisers provided higher ratings to the target than the foils. Effects were enhanced when drawing on the combined wisdom of super-recogniser crowds, but not control crowds. These findings supported additional case evidence allowing the coroner to rule that the deceased male and missing male were likely one and the same person. A description of how similar super-recogniser wisdom of the crowd procedures could be applied to other visual image identification cases when no other method is feasible is provided.

Cognitive and neural markers of super-recognisers' face processing superiority and enhanced cross-age effect.

Super-recognisers inhabit the extreme high end of an adult face processing ability spectrum in the population. While almost all research in this area has evaluated those with poor or mid-range abilities, evaluating whether super-recognisers' superiority generates distinct electrophysiological brain activity, and transcends to different age group faces (i.e., children's) is important for enhancing theoretical understanding of normal and impaired face processing. It may also be crucial for policing, as super-recognisers may be deployed to operations involving child identification and protection. In Experiment 1, super-recognisers (n = 315) outperformed controls (n = 499) at adult and infant face recognition, while also displaying larger cross-age effects. These findings were replicated in Experiment 2 (super-recognisers, n = 19; controls, n = 28), although one SR with frequent infant exposure showed no cross-age effect. Compared to controls, super-recognisers also generated significantly greater electrophysiological activity in event-related potentials associated with pictorial processing (P1) and explicit recognition (P600). Experiment 3, employing an upright and inverted sequential matching design found super-recognisers (n = 24) outperformed controls (n = 20) at adult and infant face matching, but showed no upright cross-age matching effects. Instead, they displayed larger inversion effects, and cross-age inversion effects, implicating the role of holistic processing in their perceptual superiority. Larger cross-age effects in recognition, but not matching suggests that super-recognisers' adult face recognition is partly driven by experience. However, their enhanced infant face recognition suggest super-recognisers' superiority is also experience-independent, results that have implications for policing and for models of face recognition.

Synthesis, structure and cytotoxicity of cyclic (alkyl)(amino) carbene and acyclic carbene complexes of group 11 metals.

A series of complexes of cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) complexes of copper, silver and gold have been investigated for their antiproliferative properties. A second series of acyclic carbene (ACC) complexes of gold(i) were prepared by nucleophilic attack on isocyanide complexes by amines and amino esters, to give (ACC)AuCl, [(ACC)Au(PTA)]+ (PTA = triazaphosphaadamantane), as well as mixed-carbene compounds [(CAAC)Au(ACC)]+. Representative complexes were characterised by X-ray diffraction which confirmed the mononuclear linear structures without close intermolecular contacts or aurophilic interactions. The redox properties of these complexes have been determined. The compounds were tested against a panel of human cancer cell lines including leukemia (HL 60), breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF-7) and human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cell lines (A549), which show varying degrees of cisplatin resistance. The pro-ligand iminium salts and the PTA complexes were non-toxic. By contrast, the CAAC complexes show high cytotoxicity, with IC50 values in the sub-micromolar to ∼100 nanomolar range, even against cisplatin-insensitive MCF-7 and A549 cells. Cationic bis-carbene complexes [(Me2CAAC)2M]+ (6-8, M = Cu, Ag and Au) proved particularly effective. The mechanism of cell growth control by these complexes remains to be established, although possible modes of action such as inhibition of thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), which is a common pathway for gold NHC compounds, or the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through redox processes, could be ruled out as primary pathways.

Predictors of Patient Satisfaction in Pediatric Oncology.

OBJECTIVE: To understand key drivers of patient satisfaction in pediatric hematology/oncology. METHODS: The "top-box" scores of patient satisfaction surveys from 4 pediatric hematology/oncology practices were collected from 2012 to 2014 at an integrated Children's Health Network. One item, "Likelihood of recommending practice," was used as the surrogate for overall patient satisfaction, and all other items were correlated to this item. RESULTS: A total of 1244 satisfaction surveys were included in this analysis. The most important predictors of overall patient satisfaction were cheerfulness of practice ( r = .69), wait time ( r = .60), and staff working together ( r = .60). The lowest scoring items were getting clinic on phone, information about delays, and wait time at clinic. CONCLUSION: Families bringing their children for outpatient care in a hematology/oncology practice want to experience a cheerful and collaborative medical team. Wait time at clinic may be a key driver in the overall experience for families with children with cancer. Future work should be directed at using this evidence to drive patient experience improvement processes in pediatric hematology/oncology.

Biocompatibility of gold nanoparticles in retinal pigment epithelial cell line.

Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) have been tested as targeted delivery agents because of their high chemical stability and surface plasmon properties. Here, we investigated the biocompatibility of Au spheres (5-, 10-, 20-, 30-, 50-. and 100-nm), cubes (50-nm), and rods (10×90nm) on a retinal pigment epithelial (ARPE-19) cell line. The lethal dose for killing 50% of the cells (LD50) was evaluated using an MTT (3-[4, 5 dimethyl-thiazoly-2-yl] 2-5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay. At and above LD50, based on mass concentrations, the confluent cell layer began to detach, as shown by real-time measurements of electric impedance. We found that the biocompatibility of spheres improved with increasing nanoparticle size. The Au rods were less biocompatible than 10-nm spheres. Confocal microscopy showed that cubic (50-nm) and spherical NPs (50- and 100-nm) neither had cytotoxic effects nor entered cells. Lethal doses for internalized spherical NPs, which were toxic, were recalculated based on surface area (LD50,A) concentrations. Indeed, when biocompatibility was expressed as the surface area concentration of NPs, the curve was independent of size. The LD50,A of Au nanospheres was 23cm2/ml. Our findings demonstrate that the sole modulation of the surface area would make it possible to use Au NPs for therapeutic purposes.

Holistic Facial Composite Construction and Subsequent Lineup Identification Accuracy: Comparing Adults and Children.

When the police have no suspect, they may ask an eyewitness to construct a facial composite of that suspect from memory. Faces are primarily processed holistically, and recently developed computerized holistic facial composite systems (e.g., EFIT-V) have been designed to match these processes. The reported research compared children aged 6-11 years with adults on their ability to construct a recognizable EFIT-V composite. Adult constructor's EFIT-Vs received significantly higher composite-suspect likeness ratings from assessors than children's, although there were some notable exceptions. In comparison to adults, the child constructors also overestimated the composite-suspect likeness of their own EFIT-Vs. In a second phase, there were no differences between adult controls and constructors in correct identification rates from video lineups. However, correct suspect identification rates by child constructors were lower than those of child controls, suggesting that a child's memory for the suspect can be adversely influenced by composite construction. Nevertheless, all child constructors coped with the demands of the EFIT-V system, and the implications for research, theory, and the criminal justice system practice are discussed.