An update of the Benton Facial Recognition Test.

The Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT) is a paper-and-pen task that is traditionally used to assess face perception skills in neurological, clinical and psychiatric conditions. Despite criticisms of its stimuli, the task enjoys a simple procedure and is rapid to administer. Further, it has recently been computerised (BFRT-c), allowing reliable measurement of completion times and the need for online testing. Here, in response to calls for repeat screening for the accurate detection of face processing deficits, we present the BFRT-Revised (BFRT-r): a new version of the BFRT-c that maintains the task's basic paradigm, but employs new, higher-quality stimuli that reflect recent theoretical advances in the field. An initial validation study with typical participants indicated that the BFRT-r has good internal reliability and content validity. A second investigation indicated that while younger and older participants had comparable accuracy, completion times were longer in the latter, highlighting the need for age-matched norms. Administration of the BFRT-r and BFRT-c to 32 individuals with developmental prosopagnosia resulted in improved sensitivity in diagnostic screening for the BFRT-r compared to the BFRT-c. These findings are discussed in relation to current diagnostic screening protocols for face perception deficits. The BFRT-r is stored in an open repository and is freely available to other researchers.

The Oxford Face Matching Test: A non-biased test of the full range of individual differences in face perception.

Tests of face processing are typically designed to identify individuals performing outside of the typical range; either prosopagnosic individuals who exhibit poor face processing ability, or super recognisers, who have superior face processing abilities. Here we describe the development of the Oxford Face Matching Test (OFMT), designed to identify individual differences in face processing across the full range of performance, from prosopagnosia, through the range of typical performance, to super recognisers. Such a test requires items of varying difficulty, but establishing difficulty is problematic when particular populations (e.g., prosopagnosics, individuals with autism spectrum disorder) may use atypical strategies to process faces. If item difficulty is calibrated on neurotypical individuals, then the test may be poorly calibrated for atypical groups, and vice versa. To obtain items of varying difficulty, we used facial recognition algorithms to obtain face pair similarity ratings that are not biased towards specific populations. These face pairs were used as stimuli in the OFMT, and participants were required to judge whether the face images depicted the same individual or different individuals. Across five studies the OFMT was shown to be sensitive to individual differences in the typical population, and in groups of both prosopagnosic individuals and super recognisers. The test-retest reliability of the task was at least equivalent to the Cambridge Face Memory Test and the Glasgow Face Matching Test. Furthermore, results reveal, at least at the group level, that both face perception and face memory are poor in those with prosopagnosia, and are good in super recognisers.

Coping strategies for developmental prosopagnosia.

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a cognitive condition characterised by a relatively selective deficit in face recognition. Some adults and children with DP experience severe psychosocial consequences related to the condition, yet are reluctant to disclose it to others. The remediation of DP is therefore an urgent issue, but has been met with little success. Given that developmental conditions may only benefit from compensatory rather than remedial training, this study aimed to examine (a) the positive and negative effects of DP disclosure, and (b) compensatory techniques that may circumvent recognition failure. Qualitative questionnaires and interviews were carried out with 79 participants: 50 adults with DP, 26 of their non-affected significant others, and three parents of DP children. Findings indicated positive effects of disclosure, yet most adults choose not to do so in the workplace. Effective compensatory strategies include the use of extra-facial information, identity prompts from others, and preparation for planned encounters. However, changes in appearance, infrequent contact, or encounters in unexpected contexts often cause strategy failure. As strategies are effortful and disrupted by heavily controlled appearance (e.g., the wearing of uniform), disclosure of DP may be necessary for the safety, wellbeing and optimal education of children with the condition.

Developmental prosopagnosia with concurrent topographical difficulties: A case report and virtual reality training programme.

Several neuropsychological case studies report brain-damaged individuals with concurrent impairments in face recognition (i.e., prosopagnosia) and topographical orientation. Recently, individuals with a developmental form of topographical disorientation have also been described, and several case reports of individuals with developmental prosopagnosia provide anecdotal evidence of concurrent navigational difficulties. Clearly, the co-occurrence of these difficulties can exacerbate the negative psychosocial consequences associated with each condition. This paper presents the first detailed case report of an individual (FN) with developmental prosopagnosia alongside difficulties in topographical orientation. FN's performance on an extensive navigational battery indicated that she primarily has difficulties in the formation and retrieval of cognitive maps. We then evaluated the effectiveness of a short-term virtual reality training programme and found that she is able to form a cognitive map of a particular environment following intense overlearning. Surprisingly, FN's performance on a face recognition task also improved following training. While the latter finding was unexpected and requires further exploration, the training programme reported here may help to alleviate some of the compounded negative psychosocial consequences that are associated with difficulties in finding both locations and people.

Super-recognition in development: A case study of an adolescent with extraordinary face recognition skills.

Face recognition abilities vary widely. While face recognition deficits have been reported in children, it is unclear whether superior face recognition skills can be encountered during development. This paper presents O.B., a 14-year-old female with extraordinary face recognition skills: a "super-recognizer" (SR). O.B. demonstrated exceptional face-processing skills across multiple tasks, with a level of performance that is comparable to adult SRs. Her superior abilities appear to be specific to face identity: She showed an exaggerated face inversion effect and her superior abilities did not extend to object processing or non-identity aspects of face recognition. Finally, an eye-movement task demonstrated that O.B. spent more time than controls examining the nose - a pattern previously reported in adult SRs. O.B. is therefore particularly skilled at extracting and using identity-specific facial cues, indicating that face and object recognition are dissociable during development, and that super recognition can be detected in adolescence.

Rehabilitation of face-processing skills in an adolescent with prosopagnosia: Evaluation of an online perceptual training programme.

In this paper we describe the case of EM, a female adolescent who acquired prosopagnosia following encephalitis at the age of eight. Initial neuropsychological and eye-movement investigations indicated that EM had profound difficulties in face perception as well as face recognition. EM underwent 14 weeks of perceptual training in an online programme that attempted to improve her ability to make fine-grained discriminations between faces. Following training, EM's face perception skills had improved, and the effect generalised to untrained faces. Eye-movement analyses also indicated that EM spent more time viewing the inner facial features post-training. Examination of EM's face recognition skills revealed an improvement in her recognition of personally-known faces when presented in a laboratory-based test, although the same gains were not noted in her everyday experiences with these faces. In addition, EM did not improve on a test assessing the recognition of newly encoded faces. One month after training, EM had maintained the improvement on the eye-tracking test, and to a lesser extent, her performance on the familiar faces test. This pattern of findings is interpreted as promising evidence that the programme can improve face perception skills, and with some adjustments, may at least partially improve face recognition skills.

Both identity and non-identity face perception tasks predict developmental prosopagnosia and face recognition ability.

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by deficits in face identification. However, there is debate about whether these deficits are primarily perceptual, and whether they extend to other face processing tasks (e.g., identifying emotion, age, and gender; detecting faces in scenes). In this study, 30 participants with DP and 75 controls completed a battery of eight tasks assessing four domains of face perception (identity; emotion; age and gender; face detection). The DP group performed worse than the control group on both identity perception tasks, and one task from each other domain. Both identity perception tests uniquely predicted DP/control group membership, and performance on two measures of face memory. These findings suggest that deficits in DP may arise from issues with face perception. Some non-identity tasks also predicted DP/control group membership and face memory, even when face identity perception was accounted for. Gender perception and speed of face detection consistently predicted unique variance in group membership and face memory; several other tasks were only associated with some measures of face recognition ability. These findings indicate that face perception deficits in DP may extend beyond identity perception. However, the associations between tasks may also reflect subtle aspects of task demands or stimuli.

Familial Transmission of Developmental Prosopagnosia: New Case Reports from an Extended Family and Identical Twins.

Existing evidence suggests that developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a surprisingly prevalent condition, with some individuals describing lifelong difficulties with facial identity recognition. Together with case reports of multiple family members with the condition, this evidence suggests that DP is inherited in at least some instances. Here, we offer some novel case series that further support the heritability of the condition. First, we describe five adult siblings who presented to our lab with symptoms of DP. Second, for the first known time in the literature, we describe a pair of adult identical twins who contacted us in the belief that they both experience DP. The condition was confirmed in three of the five siblings (with minor symptoms observed in the remaining two) and in both twins. Supplementary assessments suggested that all individuals also experienced some degree of difficulty with facial identity perception, but that object recognition was preserved. These findings bolster the evidence supporting the heritability of DP and suggest that it can be a specific impairment in some cases.

Why can people with developmental prosopagnosia recognise some familiar faces? Insights from subjective experience.

Developmental prosopagnosia is a relatively common visuo-cognitive condition, characterised by impaired facial identity recognition. Impairment severity appears to reside on a continuum, however, it is unknown whether instances of milder deficits reflect the successful use of spontaneous (typical) face recognition strategies, or the application of extraneous compensatory cues to recognition. Here, we explore this issue in two studies. First, 23 adults with developmental prosopagnosia were asked about their use of spontaneous versus compensatory face recognition techniques in everyday life, using a series of closed- and open-ended questions. Second, the same participants performed a computerised famous face recognition task where they were asked to provide reasons why they could make any successful identifications. Findings from both studies suggest that people with developmental prosopagnosia can successfully, and quite frequently, use compensatory strategies to recognition, and that these cues support the majority of instances of preserved familiar face recognition. In contrast, 16 of the 23 participants were able to spontaneously recognise familiar faces on at least some occasions, but there were vast individual differences in frequencies of success. These findings have important implications for our conceptualisation of the condition, as well as for diagnostic practice.

Data-driven studies in face identity processing rely on the quality of the tests and data sets.

There is growing interest in how data-driven approaches can help understand individual differences in face identity processing (FIP). However, researchers employ various FIP tests interchangeably, and it is unclear whether these tests 1) measure the same underlying ability/ies and processes (e.g., confirmation of identity match or elimination of identity match) 2) are reliable, 3) provide consistent performance for individuals across tests online and in laboratory. Together these factors would influence the outcomes of data-driven analyses. Here, we asked 211 participants to perform eight tests frequently reported in the literature. We used Principal Component Analysis and Agglomerative Clustering to determine factors underpinning performance. Importantly, we examined the reliability of these tests, relationships between them, and quantified participant consistency across tests. Our findings show that participants' performance can be split into two factors (called here confirmation and elimination of an identity match) and that participants cluster according to whether they are strong on one of the factors or equally on both. We found that the reliability of these tests is at best moderate, the correlations between them are weak, and that the consistency in participant performance across tests and is low. Developing reliable and valid measures of FIP and consistently scrutinising existing ones will be key for drawing meaningful conclusions from data-driven studies.

Face recognition improvements in adults and children with face recognition difficulties.

While there have been decades of clinical and theoretical interest in developmental and acquired face recognition difficulties, very little work has examined their remediation. Here, we report two studies that examined the efficacy of an existing face training programme in improving face-processing skills in adults and children with developmental face recognition impairments. The programme has only been trialled in typical children to date, where 2 weeks of perceptual training (modelled on an adapted version of the popular family game Guess Who?) resulted in face-specific improvements for memory but not perception after 2 weeks of training. In Study 1, we performed a randomized, parallel groups, placebo-controlled trial of the same programme in 20 adults with a pre-existing diagnosis of developmental prosopagnosia. Assessment tasks were administered immediately before and after training, and 2 weeks later. Face-specific gains in memory (but not perception) were observed in the experimental group and were greatest in those with the poorest face recognition skills at entry. These gains persisted 2 weeks after training ceased. In Study 2, a case-series approach was used to administer the experimental version of the training programme to four children who presented with difficulties in face recognition. Improvements in face memory were observed in three of the participants; while one also improved at face perception, there was mixed evidence for the face specificity of these gains. Together, these findings suggest plasticity in the human face recognition system through to at least mid-adulthood and also pave the way for longer-term implementations of the face training programme that will likely elicit greater gains in both adults and children.

Face masks versus sunglasses: limited effects of time and individual differences in the ability to judge facial identity and social traits.

Some research indicates that face masks impair identification and other judgements such as trustworthiness. However, it is unclear whether those effects have abated over time as individuals adjust to widespread use of masks, or whether performance is related to individual differences in face recognition ability. This study examined the effect of masks and sunglasses on face matching and social judgements (trustworthiness, competence, attractiveness). In Experiment 1, 135 participants across three different time points (June 2020-July 2021) viewed unedited faces and faces with masks, sunglasses, or both. Both masks and sunglasses similarly decreased matching performance. The effect of masks on social judgements varied depending on the judgement and whether the face was depicted with sunglasses. There was no effect of timepoint on any measure, suggesting that the effects of masks have not diminished. In Experiment 2, 12 individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) and 10 super-recognisers (SRs) completed the same tasks. The effect of masks on identity matching was reduced in SRs, whereas the effects of masks and sunglasses for the DP group did not differ from controls. These findings indicate that face masks significantly affect face perception, depending on the availability of other facial information, and are not modified by exposure.

Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia show independent impairments in face perception, face memory and face matching.

Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) all exhibit impairments in face memory, but the specificity of these face memory impairments is debated. One problem is that standard behavioural tasks are not able to provide independent measurement of face perception, face memory, and face matching (the decision process required to judge whether two instances of a face are of the same individual or different individuals). The present study utilised a new test of face matching, the Oxford Face Matching Test (OFMT), and a novel analysis strategy to derive these independent indices. Twenty-nine individuals with DP and the same number of matched neurotypical controls completed the OFMT, the Glasgow Face Matching Test, and the Cambridge Face Memory Test. Results revealed individuals with DP exhibit impairments in face perception, face memory and face matching. Collectively, these results suggest that face processing impairments in DP are more comprehensive than has previously been suggested.

Face specific inversion effects provide evidence for two subtypes of developmental prosopagnosia.

Many studies have attempted to identify the perceptual underpinnings of developmental prosopagnosia (DP). The majority have focused on whether holistic and configural processing mechanisms are impaired in DP. However, previous work suggests that there is substantial heterogeneity in holistic and configural processing within the DP population; further, there is disagreement as to whether any deficits are face-specific or reflect a broader perceptual deficit. This study used a data-driven approach to examine whether there are systematic patterns of variability in DP that reflect different underpinning perceptual deficits. A group of individuals with DP (N = 37) completed a cognitive battery measuring holistic/configural and featural processing in faces and non-face objects. A two-stage cluster analysis on data from the Cambridge Face Perception Test identified two subgroups of DPs. Across several tasks, the first subgroup (N = 21) showed typical patterns of holistic/configural processing (measured via inversion effects); the second (N = 16) was characterised by reduced or abolished inversion effects compared to age-matched control participants (N = 91). The subgroups did not differ on tasks measuring upright face matching, object matching, non-face holistic processing, or composite effects. These findings indicate two separable pathways to face recognition impairment, one characterised by impaired configural processing and the other potentially by impaired featural processing. Comparisons to control participants provide some preliminary evidence that the deficit in featural processing may extend to some non-face stimuli. Our results demonstrate the utility of examining both the variability between and consistency across individuals with DP as a means of illuminating our understanding of face recognition in typical and atypical populations.

When two fields collide: Identifying "super-recognisers" for neuropsychological and forensic face recognition research.

In the last decade, a novel individual differences approach has emerged across the face recognition literature. While the field has long been concerned with prosopagnosia (the inability to recognise facial identity), it has more recently become clear that there are vast differences in face recognition ability within the typical population. "Super-recognisers" are those individuals purported to reside at the very top of this spectrum. On one hand, these people are of interest to cognitive neuropsychologists who are motivated to explore the commonality of the face recognition continuum, whereas on the other hand, researchers from the forensic face matching field evaluate the implementation of super-recognisers into real-world police and security settings. These two rather different approaches have led to discrepancies in the definition of super-recognisers, and perhaps more fundamentally, the approach to identifying them, resulting in a lack of consistency that prohibits theoretical progress. Here, we review the protocols used in published work to identify super-recognisers, and propose a common definition and screening recommendations that can be adhered to across fields.

Developmental prosopagnosics and super recognizers rely on the same facial features used by individuals with normal face recognition abilities for face identification.

Face recognition depends on the ability of the face processing system to extract facial features that define the identity of a face. In a recent study we discovered that altering a subset of facial features changed the identity of the face, indicating that they are critical for face identification. Changing another set of features did not change the identity of a face, indicating that they are not critical for face identification. In the current study, we assessed whether developmental prosopagnosics (DPs) and super recognizers (SRs) also rely more heavily on these critical features than non-critical features for face identification. To that end, we presented to DPs and SRs faces in which either the critical or the non-critical features were manipulated. In Study 1, we presented SRs with a famous face recognition task. We found that overall SRs recognized famous faces that differ in either critical or non-critical features better than controls. Similar to controls, changes in critical features had a larger effect on SRs' face recognition than changes in non-critical features. In Study 2, we presented an identity matching task to DPs and SRs. Similar to controls, DPs and SRs perceived faces that differed in critical features as more different than faces that differed in non-critical features. Taken together, our results indicate that SRs and DPs use the same critical features for face identification as normal individuals. These findings emphasize the fundamental role of this subset of features for face identification.

Birthweight predicts individual differences in adult face recognition ability.

It has long been known that premature birth and/or low birthweight can lead to general difficulties in cognitive and emotional functioning throughout childhood. However, the influence of these factors on more specific processes has seldom been addressed, despite their potential to account for wide individual differences in performance that often appear innate. Here, we examined the influence of gestation and birthweight on adults' face perception and face memory skills. Performance on both sub-processes was predicted by birthweight and birthweight-for-gestation, but not gestation alone. Evidence was also found for the domain-specificity of these effects: No perinatal measure correlated with performance on object perception or memory tasks, but they were related to the size of the face inversion effect on the perceptual test. This evidence indicates a novel, very early influence on individual differences in face recognition ability, which persists into adulthood, influences face-processing strategy itself, and may be domain-specific.

Diagnosing developmental prosopagnosia: repeat assessment using the Cambridge Face Memory Test.

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a cognitive condition characterized by a relatively selective impairment in face recognition. Currently, people are screened for DP via a single attempt at objective face-processing tests, usually all presented on the same day. However, several variables probably influence performance on these tests irrespective of actual ability, and the influence of repeat administration is also unknown. Here, we assess, for the first known time, the test-retest reliability of the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT)-the leading task used worldwide to diagnose DP. This value was found to fall just below psychometric standards, and single-case analyses revealed further inconsistencies in performance that were not driven by testing location (online or in-person), nor the time-lapse between attempts. Later administration of an alternative version of the CFMT (the CFMT-Aus) was also found to be valuable in confirming borderline cases. Finally, we found that performance on the first 48 trials of the CFMT was equally as sensitive as the full 72-item score, suggesting that the instrument may be shortened for testing efficiency. We consider the implications of these findings for existing diagnostic protocols, concluding that two independent tasks of unfamiliar face memory should be completed on separate days.

Enhanced Matching of Children's Faces in "Super-Recognisers" But Not High-Contact Controls.

Face matching is notoriously error-prone, and some work suggests additional difficulty when matching the faces of children. It is possible that individuals with natural proficiencies in adult face matching ("super-recognisers" [SRs]) will also excel at the matching of children's faces, although other work implicates facilitations in typical perceivers who have high levels of contact with young children (e.g., nursery teachers). This study compared the performance of both of these groups on adult and child face matching to a group of low-contact controls. High- and low-contact control groups performed at a remarkably similar level in both tasks, whereas facilitations for adult and child face matching were observed in some (but not all) SRs. As a group, the SRs performed better in the adult compared with the child task, demonstrating an extended own-age bias compared with controls. These findings suggest that additional exposure to children's faces does not assist the performance in a face matching task, and the mechanisms underpinning superior recognition of adult faces can also facilitate the child face recognition. Real-world security organisations should therefore seek individuals with general facilitations in face matching for both adult and child face matching tasks.

Guess who? Facial identity discrimination training improves face memory in typically developing children.

While vast individual differences in face recognition have been observed in adults, very little work has explored when these differences come online during development, their domain specificity, and their consistency across different aspects of face processing. These issues do not only have important theoretical implications for the cognitive and developmental psychological literatures, but may reveal critical windows of neuroplasticity for optimal remediation of face recognition impairments. Here, we describe the first formal remedial face training program that is suitable for children, modifying the popular game Guess Who. Eighty-one typical children Aged 4-11 years were randomly allocated to an experimental or active control training condition. Over 10 training sessions, experimental participants were required to discriminate between faces that differed in feature size or spacing across 10 levels of difficulty, whereas control participants continuously played the standard version of Guess Who within the same timeframe. Improvements in face memory but not face matching were observed in the experimental compared to the control group, but there were no gains on tests of object matching or memory. Face memory gains were maintained in a 1-month follow up, consistent across age, and larger for poorer perceivers. Thus, this study not only presents a promising means of improving face recognition skills in children, but also indicates a consistent period of plasticity that spans early childhood to preadolescence, implying early segregation of face versus object processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).