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Recognition following long delays is superior for highly attractive and highly unattractive faces (cf. medium-attractive faces). In the current work, we investigated participants’ ability to recreate from memory faces of low-, medium- and high physical attractiveness. In Experiment 1, participants constructed composites of familiar (celebrity) faces using the holistic EvoFIT system. When controlling for other variables that may influence face recognition (memorability, familiarity, likeability and\ud age), correct naming and ratings of likeness were superior for composites of low attractiveness targets. Experiment 2 replicated this design using the feature based PRO-fit system, revealing superiority (by composite naming and ratings of\ud likeness) for medium attractiveness. In Experiment 3, participants constructed composites of unfamiliar faces after a forensically-relevant delay of 1 day. Using ratings of likeness as a measure of composite effectiveness, these same effects were observed for EvoFIT and PRO-fit. The work demonstrates the importance of attractiveness for method of composite face construction.

Meditative mindfulness practices, promoting sustained attention and reducing mind-wandering, have been associated with improvements in cognitive abilities and memory. The present study explored whether a non-meditative practice could be successfully applied in a forensic application; specifically, whether mindfulness instructions can be embedded in the face-composite construction process to facilitate identification. Twenty participants, who were not football fans, were asked to memorise an unfamiliar footballer's face and return 24 hr later to construct a face using the self-administered EvoFIT facial composite system. In the experimental condition, mindfulness instructions were embedded in the EvoFIT system, encouraging witnesses to focus on the target face and the process; in the control condition, participants constructed the face using the standard EvoFIT system. Naming of the composites was attempted by 24 football fans, who each viewed 10 composites, five from each condition, and then the target footballer images to ensure they were familiar with the identities. Results showed significantly higher levels of correct naming for composites constructed using EvoFIT with mindfulness instructions compared to using the standard EvoFIT. These findings indicate the potential for non-meditative mindfulness instructions to assist face-composite construction, improving correct naming of ensuing composites.

Memory is facilitated by reflecting upon, or revisiting, the environment in which information was encoded. We investigated these “context reinstatement” (CR) techniques to improve the effectiveness of facial composites – visual likenesses of a perpetrator’s face constructed by eyewitnesses. Participant-constructors viewed a face and, after a one-day-delay, revisited (Physical CR) or recalled the environmental context (Mental/Detailed CR) before recalling the face and constructing an EvoFIT or a PRO-fit composite. Detailed CR increased correct naming of ensuing composites, but only when participant-constructors suitably encoded the environment. Detailed CR was also effective when combined with another interviewing technique (Holistic-Cognitive Interview), with focus on a target’s character; it was no more effective prompting constructors to engage in greater environmental recall. Analyses indicate that the Detailed CR advantage was mediated by an increase in face recall. Results are applicable by forensic practitioners to aid eyewitness memory, thereby potentially increasing suspect identification and subsequent arrest rates.

There are many types of evidence available after a crime has been committed. Some evidence is physical, including fingerprints, footprints and DNA (e.g., Bradbury & Feist, 2005). Forensic officers attempt to recover information of this type from a crime scene for analysis. The hope, of course, is that the outcome will lead to identification the person(s) responsible. Success usually depends on recidivism: an offender has been convicted of a previous offence and his or her identifying information is available to be searched on a database of fingerprints, footprints, DNA, etc. A similar situation applies to CCTV footage (e.g., Davies & Thasen, 2000). The hope now is that the offender has been caught on camera and a clear image of the face can be extracted. The image can then be compared against a database of known offenders for potential matches. It can also be circulated within a police force, or in the media, with the aim that someone who is familiar with the person will report him or her to the authorities. This use of evidence is psychological in nature due to the need for a human to recognise the face; it is considered by Richard Kemp and colleagues in Chapter 1 of this volume. A different situation also involving human recognition occurs when police officers have only seen a photograph of a wanted person, and so the face is unfamiliar, as discussed by Kara Moore and James Lampinen in Chapter 3. As part of collecting all available evidence, the police will interview victims or bystanders who were present when the crime took place. Specific interviewing techniques have been developed for observers who may be able to provide an account of the crime and those involved (e.g., Fisher, 1995). Evidence collected in this way can be particularly important in the absence of the aforementioned evidence, or when recovering useful evidence may take a long time such that further crime occurs. One (or more) of these observers might also be able to construct a composite image of the offender’s face. This part of a person’s appearance is particularly important for identification—although gait, voice, characteristic motion and possibly other human characteristics may facilitate recognition to some extent (as mentioned later). As with CCTV evidence, an image is circulated for identification. Again, the aim is that someone who is familiar with the person will name the face to police, providing an investigation with a potential suspect (e.g., Ellis & Shepherd, 1992). Subsequent police-work will collect evidence to assess whether or not the named person is likely to be responsible for the crime. Sometimes, a facial composite is constructed of someone with whom the police would like to make contact in order to eliminate him or her from the investigation, or to locate a potential witness, but composites are usually created of an offender, specifically a perpetrator of serious crime. In this chapter, my aim is to assess facial composites as a reliable method of identification. Face-production systems have changed greatly over the years, as have methods of their deployment. Early ‘feature’ systems in the 1970s and 1980s are not reliable, nor are their computerised descendants, but the newer ‘holistic’ systems (esp. EvoFIT) can now create identifiable faces, for the first time providing a reliable means to identify offenders using this forensic technique. I also look to the future to consider promising techniques that may allow composites to be made even more effective.

During long-term missing children cases, forensic artists construct age-progressions to estimate the child’s current appearance. It is commonly believed that incorporating information about the child’s biological relatives is critical in accurately estimating the child’s current appearance. However, some evidence suggests that predicting appearance based on inheritance of features may be error prone. The present studies examine whether age-progressions constructed with the aid of a biological reference photos led to better recognition than those constructed without a biological reference. We also investigated whether there would be any variation depending on the age-range of the age-progressions. Eight professional forensic artists created age-progressions based upon photographs provided by each of our eight targets. Half of their age progressions with the aid of parental reference photos and half without parental reference photos. Furthermore, half were age-progressed across a longer age-range (5–20 years) and half covered a shorter age-range (12–20 years). In Experiment 1 similarity scores were higher over shorter age-ranges. Further, across longer age-ranges age-progressions created with the aid of a parental reference were lower than those without a reference. In Experiment 2 recognition performance was higher across shorter age-ranges. Additionally, across longer age-ranges age-progressions created with the aid of a parental reference were recognized worse than those without a reference. These results suggest that in long-term missing person cases, forensic artists may benefit from not relying on biological references. Finally, consistent with previous research (e.g. Lampinen et al., 2012) age-progressions provided no benefit over using outdated photographs.

Standard forensic practice necessitates that a witness describes an offender’s face prior to constructing a visual likeness, a facial composite. However, describing a face can interfere with face recognition, although a delay between description and recognition theoretically should alleviate this issue. In Experiment 1, participants produced a free recall description either 3-4 hours or 2 days after intentionally or incidentally encoding a target face, and then constructed a composite using a modern ‘feature’ system immediately or after 30-minutes. Unexpectedly, correct naming of composites significantly reduced following the 30-minute delay between description and construction for targets encoded 2 days previously. In, Experiment 2, participants in these conditions gave descriptions that were better matched to their targets by independent judges, a result which suggests that the 30-minute delay actually impairs access to details of recalled descriptions that are valuable for composite effectiveness. Experiment 3 found the detrimental effect of description delay extended to composites constructed from a ‘holistic’ face production system. The results have real-world but counterintuitive implications for witnesses who construct a face one or two days after a crime: after having recalled the face to a practitioner, an appreciable delay (here, 30 minutes) should be avoided before starting face construction.

Rationale - The effect of alcohol intoxication on witness memory and performance has been the subject of research for some time, however, whether intoxication affects facial composite construction has not been investigated. Objectives - Intoxication was predicted to adversely affect facial composite construction. Methods - Thirty-two participants were allocated to one of four beverage conditions consisting of factorial combinations of alcohol or placebo at face encoding, and later construction. Participants viewed a video of a target person and constructed a composite of this target the following day. The resulting images were presented as a full-face composite, or a part-face consisting of either internal, or external facial features to a second sample of participants who provided likeness ratings as a measure of facial composite quality.Results - Intoxication at face encoding had a detrimental impact on the quality of facial composites produced the following day, suggesting that alcohol impaired the encoding of the target faces. The common finding that external compared to internal features are more accurately represented was demonstrated, even following alcohol at encoding. This finding was moderated by alcohol and target face gender such that alcohol at face encoding resulted in reduced likeness of external features for male composite faces only.Conclusions - Moderate alcohol intoxication impairs the quality of facial composites, adding to existing literature demonstrating little effect of alcohol on line-up studies. The impact of intoxication on face perception mechanisms, and the apparent narrowing of processing to external face areas such as hair, is discussed in the context of alcohol myopia theory.

Facial identification based on a comparison with a photo-ID is the most standard way to prove identity at security controls. Two experiments are performed controlling for the presence or absence of within-contour facial periphery (masking) and its substitution for an average periphery image (averaging), measuring matching accuracy, reaction time and signal-detection measures d’ an C. Experiment 1 compared face matching for the original periphery in the pair, its masking and its averaging using a sample of frontal image pairs. Experiment 2 compared matches in the average condition with and without an apparent gap around internal features. Results show that masking of facial periphery had a detrimental effect on unfamiliar face matching accuracy accompanied by an increased tendency to positive responses, while averaging composites yielded no difference as compared to the original pair. No differences were found for matching in conditions with or without an apparent gap. The results suggest that face periphery contributes to unfamiliar face matching accuracy through a holistic process which is disrupted when focusing exclusively on the innermost features; the effect is dependent on the global structure of the face image and not related to low-level details. These results should be considered in the context of improving unfamiliar face matching.

Cell-phone conversation is ubiquitous within public spaces. The current study investigates whether ignored cell-phone conversation impairs eyewitness memory for a perpetrator. Participants viewed a video of a staged crime in the presence of 1 side of a comprehensible cell-phone conversation (meaningful halfalogue), 2 sides of a comprehensible cell-phone conversation (meaningful dialogue), 1 side of an incomprehensible cell-phone conversation (meaningless halfalogue), or quiet. Between 24 and 28 hr later, participants freely described the perpetrator's face, constructed a single composite image of the perpetrator from memory, and attempted to identify the perpetrator from a sequential lineup. Further, participants rated the likeness of the composites to the perpetrator. Face recall and lineup identification were impaired when participants witnessed the staged crime in the presence of a meaningful halfalogue compared to a meaningless halfalogue, meaningful dialogue, or quiet. Moreover, likeness ratings showed that the composites constructed after ignoring the meaningful halfalogue resembled the perpetrator less than did those constructed after experiencing quiet or ignoring a meaningless halfalogue or a meaningful dialogue. The unpredictability of the meaningful content of the halfalogue, rather than its acoustic unexpectedness, produces distraction. The results are novel in that they suggest that an everyday distraction, even when presented in a different modality to target information, can impair the long-term memory of an eyewitness. (PsycINFO Database Record

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in people with superior face recognition skills. Yet identification of these individuals has mostly relied on criterion performance on a single attempt at a single measure of face memory. The current investigation aimed to examine the consistency of superior face recognition skills in 30 police officers, both across tests that tap into the same process and between tests that tap into different components of face processing. Overall indices of performance across related measures were found to identify different superior performers to isolated test scores. Further, different top performers emerged for target‐present versus target‐absent indices, suggesting that signal detection measures are the most useful indicators of performance. Finally, a dissociation was observed between superior memory and matching performance. Super‐recognizer screening programmes should therefore include overall indices summarizing multiple attempts at related tests, allowing for individuals to rank highly on different (and sometimes very specific) tasks.

This paper assesses use of the EvoFIT facial composite system by police practitioners in the UK and overseas. Results reveal that this forensic system is used extensively: a total of 2,440 times since September 2013. With a suspect identification rate of 60% and a conviction rate of 17%, the impact of this forensic technique is appreciable for helping the police to identify offenders. It was also found that empirically-driven enhancement techniques were used frequently by police practitioners-including use of detailed context reinstatement and holistic techniques during interview, and asking the witness to focus on the eye-region during construction. Research evaluating EvoFIT images published in the media also revealed that composites were produced mostly for serious offences, in particular for sexual crimes. In addition, the vast majority were of male offenders, in their early 30's; victims were female (aged mid 20's to mid 30's); these demographics were similar to composites emerging from another recognition system, EFIT-V / 6. Although this exercise revealed that EvoFIT composites were sometimes published using a more optimal stretched mode, some were presented in a way that did not faithfully represent the constructed image, with the external features cropped. In conclusion, the EvoFIT system is clearly being deployed frequently, with appreciable impact, in the fight against crime.

Witnesses may construct a composite face of a perpetrator using a computerised interface. Police practitioners guide witnesses through this unusual process, the goal being to produce an identifiable image. However, any changes a perpetrator makes to their external facial-features may interfere with this process. In Experiment 1, participants constructed a composite using a holistic interface one day after target encoding. Target faces were unaltered, or had altered external-features: (i) changed hair, (ii) external-features removed or (iii) naturally-concealed external-features (hair, ears, face-shape occluded by a hooded top). These manipulations produced composites with more error-prone internal-features: participants' familiar with a target's unaltered appearance less often provided a correct name. Experiment 2 applied external-feature alterations to composites of unaltered targets; although whole-face composites contained less error-prone internal-features, identification was impaired. Experiment 3 replicated negative effects of changing target hair on construction and tested a practical solution: selectively concealing hair and eyes improved identification. Practitioner Summary: The research indicates that when a target identity disguises or changes hair, this can lead to a witness (or victim) constructing a composite that is less readily identified. We assess a practical method to overcome this forensic issue. Abbreviation: GEE: Generalized Estimating Equations.

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. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s41235-018-0116-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

When children go missing, authorities sometimes release age progressed images that are intended to approximate the person's current appearance. The current studies measured the influence of the range between the time when the child went missing and the age portrayed in the age progression on the similarity between the progressions and current images of the targets. Experiment 1 examined whole face images and Experiment 2 examined internal features only. Eight artists were recruited to produce progressions at three age ranges. Also included were averaged (morphed) images made of progressions of the same individual at a given range by different artists. Progressions across shorter ranges produced images more similar than those across longer ranges, and target comparisons yielded higher similarity ratings than foil comparisons. Although there was much variability among artists, the morphed images performed better than the average rating given to all age progressions.

Accurate identification of criminal suspects by witnesses is vital for police investigations. Methods such as Cognitive\ud Interviewing techniques have been employed for this reason to enhance witness recall. In the current project, we\ud demonstrate the benefit of including a focused breathing exercise during face construction using the EvoFIT recognition-based facial composite system. Twenty participants, half of whom received the focused breathing instruction, each constructed a facial composite of an unfamiliar face seen the previous day. A further 40 participants attempted to name the resulting composites. A\ud significant increase was found in accurate identification of composites constructed by the focused breathing group.

When perceiving faces under normal circumstances, the focus of attention is likely to be on the upper (e.g., hair, eyes) than lower (e.g., mouth, chin) facial half [1]. If such a bias were to extend to face construction, then it may hinder the effectiveness of forensic evidence collected from witnesses and victims of crime. In Experiment 1, participants constructed a single face using the EvoFIT holistic (police) composite system 24 hours after having seen an unfamiliar target identity. When constructing the face, participants were asked to select items from face arrays based on the whole face, or for upper and lower facial halves separately; these faces were presented in arrays either intact or horizontally-misaligned [2], and with external features (hair, ears, neck) present or absent. More-identifiable composites were predicted from (i) selection of separate facial halves (cf. currently-used whole-face selection), (ii) presence of horizontal misalignment and (iii) absence of external features. Experiment 2 used the same basic design but participants were requested to select for (i) upper-face half during evolution, (ii) the same as (i) but also for subsequent adjustments of the face, and (iii) overall face (Control). The composites constructed in both experiments were named and rated for likeness. Experiment 1 unexpectedly revealed that the Control group produced the highest-named composites. In Experiment 2, upper face selection during the evolution stage produced more-effective composites. In terms of practical implications, for the EvoFIT composite system, and potentially for other holistic systems, witnesses should be instructed to select faces for the upper facial half during evolution, to maximise subsequent identification of their composites.

Purpose – Research suggests that memory for unfamiliar faces is pictorial in nature, with recognition negatively affected by changes to image-specific information such as head pose, lighting and facial expression. Further, within-person variation causes some images to resemble a subject more than others. Here, the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of target-image choice on face construction using a modern evolving type of composite system, EvoFIT. Design/methodology/approach – Participants saw an unfamiliar target identity and then created a single composite of it the following day with EvoFIT by repeatedly selecting from arrays of faces with “breeding”, to “evolve” a face. Targets were images that had been previously categorised as low, medium or high likeness, or a face prototype comprising averaged photographs of the same individual. Findings – Identification of composites of low likeness targets was inferior but increased as a significant linear trend from low to medium to high likeness. Also, identification scores decreased when targets changed by pose and expression, but not by lighting. Similarly, composite identification from prototypes was more accurate than those from low likeness targets, providing some support that image averages generally produce more robust memory traces. Practical implications – The results emphasise the potential importance of matching a target's pose and expression at face construction; also, for obtaining image-specific information for construction of facial-composite images, a result that would appear to be useful to developers and researchers of composite software. Originality/value – This current project is the first of its kind to formally explore the potential impact of pictorial properties of a target face on identifiability of faces created from memory. The design followed forensic practices as far as is practicable, to allow good generalisation of results.