The Advantage of Low and Medium Attractiveness for Facial Composite Production from Modern Forensic Systems Show others and affiliations
2020 (English) In: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, ISSN 2211-3681, E-ISSN 2211-369X, Vol. 9, no 3, p. 381-395Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
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 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 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.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Elsevier, 2020. Vol. 9, no 3, p. 381-395
Keywords [en]
Facial composite, Facial attractiveness, Witness, Victim, EvoFIT, PRO-fit
National Category
Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics
Research subject Engineering Psychology
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-80645 DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.06.005 ISI: 000580946300011 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85089909433 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-80645 DiVA, id: diva2:1462913
Note Validerad;2020;Nivå 2;2020-11-09 (johcin)
2020-09-012020-09-012020-11-09 Bibliographically approved