The problem of face identification

This chapter reviews the development of research in face recognition. In particular, it describes the close association between theoretical and practical advances in the field. Early work on eyewitness testimony brought the study of memory and perception to important real-world problems, and led to some changes in forensic practice—mostly changes designed to avoid unjust judicial outcomes. More recently, a focus on face matching (e.g. checking photo identification or examining CCTV) has highlighted some important unsolved problems in our understanding of face perception. In particular, the role of familiarity is critical—people are remarkably good at recognizing other people they know, even in difficult circumstances, but are (perhaps surprisingly) bad at recognizing or matching previously unfamiliar faces. The chapter describes the findings leading to these conclusions and outlines the challenges remaining. It concludes that, while psychological research has led to some improved practices, theoretical progress has benefited enormously from a consideration of practical problems of face perception that we encounter every day.