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    The effect of retention interval and target-decoy similarity on facial recognition : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1991) Rockel, Warren
    This research was an attempt to resolve the inconsistent results for the effect of delay interval on facial recognition. The theory tested was that the degree of target/decoy similarity may act either to enhance or to diminish the effect of delay primarily by influencing false alarm rates. The first experiment used a novel method to scale the 80 faces along the dimension of similarity. The results showed that the method used was reasonably successful in ordering the faces along the similarity dimension. It enabled the use of four sets of 20 faces as either low or high similarity decoy and target sets in a second experiment aimed at testing the proposed theory. It was predicted that high target/ decoy similarity would result in a greater effect of delay than low target/ decoy similarity. Six groups of 15 subjects completed a standard face recognition experiment which crossed 0, 1 and 21 days delay with high and low similarity target/ decoy sets. The results showed a main effect for similarity, but, surprisingly, no main effect for delay. Nor was there the predicted interaction between similarity and delay for false alarms. The failure of the second experiment to test adequately the theory, and reasons for failure are discussed, along with the importance of the link between similarity and delay.
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    The effect of photofit-type faces on recognition memory : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1989) LaMontagne, Hilary
    Two attempts were made to replicate the results of Ellis, Davies, and Shepherd (1978) who showed that the addition of simulated photofit lines and randomly placed lines on photographs of faces caused a decrease in recognition memory for those faces. In the first experiment, three groups of subjects were shown 20 slides each of faces with no lines, photofit-type lines or random lines. Immediately afterwards they were shown the same faces mixed with 20 distractors, their task being to indicate whether a face had been previously seen. The addition of lines had no statistically significant effects on memory. In the second study, the number of faces initially shown was increased from 20 to 35 and subjects had to identify the previously seen faces from a set of 70 faces either immediately or following a three week delay. Again, the addition of lines to the faces produced no significant decrements in recognition rates, but there was a main effect for delay. However, trends seen in the recognition measures used for both studies suggested that the addition of lines may have a small effect on recognition memory but not enough to always reach statistical significance in single studies. The implications of the results for the use of the photofit-kit in recognition memory studies are discussed.
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    Behind the mask : recognising genuine and masked expressions of emotion : the effect of therapists' training and experience : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Curtis, Alexa Anne
    Accurately recognising facial expressions of emotion can enhance communication and the development of a therapeutic relationship. When emotions are masked or inhibited, duplicity can be betrayed through evidence of leakage of the underlying emotion occurring in the face. Being able to discern when emotions are masked or concealed may also contribute to therapy outcomes by alerting the therapist to areas requiring further exploration. Despite a large body of research on facial expression of emotion, there is a dearth of research into therapists’ emotion recognition competencies or ability to detect deception. This study sought to answer the following questions: First, is recognition of facial emotional expressions, including masked expressions, enhanced by training? Second, does clinical experience impact on emotion recognition ability? Finally, does training increase the ability to discern authentic from falsified expressions? In Study 1, 43 clinical psychologists were recruited for the study and undertook an emotion recognition and deception detection task. Twenty-­‐two of the participants completed training in emotion recognition using the Subtle Expression Training Tool (SETT; http://www.paulekman.com). In Study 2, a partial replication of Study 1 was conducted with 25 participants, and an updated version of the SETT. Results for recognition of emotion were mixed, with partial support found for the hypothesis that training would enhance recognition ability. Training was effective for improving recognition of single emotion expressions, but had less impact on recognition for masked or leaked expressions, with the exception of sadness. Efficacy of training was also dependent on experience level, with more experienced participants benefiting the most. All participants were able to detect emotional deception at levels above chance prior to training. Following training, those with a high level of experience demonstrated the greatest improvement in deception detection, with half of this group accurately detecting deception at levels significantly above chance (M = .74).
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    Emotion recognition and intellectual disability : development of the kinetic emotion recognition assessment and evaluation of the emotion specificity hypothesis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Godinovich, Zara Angela
    Deficits in social adaptive functioning are a defining criterion of intellectual disability (ID) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), and a key predictor of social inclusion and subsequent quality of life (Kozma, Mansell, & Beadle-Brown, 2009). Impairment in facial emotion recognition is often cited as the component skill responsible for the social difficulties observed. This position has been formally conceptualised by the emotion specificity hypothesis (ESH; Rojahn, Rabold, & Schneider, 1995), which proposes that individuals with ID manifest a specific deficit in facial emotion recognition beyond that which can be explained by difficulties in general intellectual functioning. Despite apparent widespread acceptance, there is not yet sufficient evidence to substantiate these claims. Moore (2001) proposes that emotion perception capacities may be intact in people with ID, and that reported deficits are instead, due to emotion recognition tasks making extensive cognitive demands that disadvantage those with lesser cognitive abilities. The aim of the present study was to clarify the nature of facial emotion recognition abilities in adults with mild ID. To this end, the Kinetic Emotion Recognition Assessment (KERA), a video-based measure of facial emotion recognition, was developed and a pilot study completed. The measure was designed to assess emotion recognition abilities, while attempting to reduce information-processing demands beyond those required to perceive the emotional content of stimuli. The new instrument was assessed for its psychometric properties in individuals with ID and neurotypical control participants. Initial findings supported the interrater reliability and overarching construct validity of the measure, offering strong evidence in favour of content, convergent and predictive validity. Item difficulty and discrimination analysis confirmed that the KERA included items of an appropriate level of difficulty to capture the range of emotion recognition capacities expected of individuals with mild ID. The secondary focus of the study was to assess how subtle methodological changes in the assessment of emotion recognition ability may affect emotion recognition performance, and in turn provide insight into how we might reinterpret existing ESH literature. To this end, the KERA was also applied in an investigation of the potential moderating effects of dynamic cues and emotion intensity, in addition to the assessment of the ESH. The results offer strong evidence that individuals with ID experience relative impairment in emotion recognition abilities when compared with typically developing controls. However, it remains to be seen whether the observed difficulties are specific to emotional expression or associated with more generalised facial processing. Preliminary findings also suggest that like their typically developing peers, individuals with ID benefit from higher intensity emotional displays; while in contrast, they observe no advantage from the addition of movement cues. Finally, the overarching motivation for the reassessment and improved measurement of the ESH, was in the interests of improving real-world outcomes associated with emotion recognition capacities. Accordingly, emotion recognition data were also interpreted in the context of three measures of social functioning to explore the link between social competence and emotion recognition ability. Results indicated that emotion recognition abilities are linked to outcomes in social adaptive functioning, particularly for females.
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    Detecting live person for the face recognition problem : submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Sciences, Massey University
    (Massey University, 2016) Alrashed, H H
    Face recognition has been a challenging problem for computer vision scientists for the last few decades. Hence it was the center of attention for computer vision researchers. The purpose of this research is to improve the security of the face recognition system by identifying the liveness of a person in front of a camera to be recognised. The objective was to detect if the images used to be recognised reflect a real person’s face, i.e., a live person’s face instead of just a static image of the face. This can be achieved by randomly asking the person to carry out certain tasks. Simple tasks such as blinking an eye or smiling can then be repeated randomly according to the instructions given by the new system, so even a video of the target face made previously would not be able to perform the authentication easily. Each component of the system were tested separately. The accuracy of the face detection component was impressively at 98.93%. The eye blinking detection uses a new proposed method with a high accuracy of 91%. Face recognition component was also tested and had a high recognition rate of 96%. Keywords: Face Recognition, Face Detection, Eigenfaces, OpenCV, Face Anti-Spoofing, Eye Detection, Smile Detection, Eye Blinking Detection
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    Effects of attractiveness, delay, and distinctiveness on face recognition : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Barbour, Jennifer J
    This study investigated the effects of attractiveness and delay on facial recognition. Distinctiveness was also examined in a second experiment. It was hypothesised that faces that were rated highly attractive or unattractive would be more memorable over time. Furthermore, a positive relationship between attractiveness and distinctiveness was expected. In Experiment 1, 25 males and 25 females rated the facial attractiveness of 78 standardised photographs. These ratings were used to select three sets of 20 target faces for a standard facial recognition task, each set representing a different level of attractiveness: high, medium, and low. The recognition test was administered either 10 min or 28 days after the study phase, participants being randomly assigned to each combination of delay and attractiveness in 2 (Delay) × 3 (Attractiveness) between-groups design. There were main effects for both attractiveness and delay on recognition accuracy but the expected interaction between these two variables did not eventuate. Experiment 2 was conducted to examine the relationship between attractiveness and distinctiveness ratings. A further 25 males and 25 females rated the facial distinctiveness of the 78 photographs used in Experiment 1. A strong curvilinear relationship was shown to exist between attractiveness and distinctiveness with the least attractive faces being rated the most distinctive and the moderately attractive faces the least distinctive. On the basis of the present results taken in conjunction with previous findings, it was concluded that facial distinctiveness is a major variable in face recognition studies.
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    The effects of age, memory load, and stimulus type on facial recognition : thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Lamont, Allison
    An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of age, memory load, and stimulus type on facial recognition. As these three factors have been implicated as important determinants in facial recognition (see Bäckman, 1991; Fulton & Bartlett, 1991; Shapiro & Penrod, 1986), the potential interactive role of these variables was examined. Thirty-two young and 64 older adults completed a facial recognition task to determine whether there were differences in recognition memory for three factors. The between-groups factors included the age of the participant (<40, 60 – 75, and >75) and memory load (low vs. high). The within-group factor was the stimulus face type (young vs. old). Participants saw 20 or 40 stimulus faces and then immediately attempted to recognise these faces when they were randomly mixed with an equal number of distractor faces in a single-interval, forced choice task. Signal detection analyses indicated that facial recognition accuracy declined with age. Older adults showed consistently poorer recognition than young adults. A main effect for memory load emerged. Performance decrements accompanied increased memory load but as all age groups were similarly affected, memory load did not interact with age. Neither did memory load interact with stimulus face type. In contrast to prior findings, stimulus face age affected only older adults who showed a marked deficit in the recognition of young stimulus faces. Young adults, however, were equally adept at recognising young and older stimulus faces. Differences between groups were not attributable to changes in response criterion, as all groups demonstrated similar levels of response bias. Results were discussed in terms of the marked interaction between stimulus face age and participant age, and the methodological implications of the ways in which variables such as load, stimulus face age, and participant age can affect the outcome of facial recognition studies. Changes in performance were shown to be a real difference in recognition memory rather than being a tendency toward reporting faces as 'old' or 'new'.
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    Affect recognition training after traumatic brain injury : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Yim, Jackki Hoon Eng
    Impairment in facial affect recognition is prevalent after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), and may underlie some problems in social functioning. Tentative work indicates that emotion recognition can improve with training, but the effectiveness of these programmes remains unclear. Little is known about whether broader cognitive deficits underlie facial affect recognition impairment. Less is known about baseline cognitive variables that predict treatment response and the relationship between changes in cognitive functioning and improvement in facial affect recognition after treatment. The present research formed part of a multi-centre randomised controlled trial examining the efficacy of two affect recognition training programmes designed to improve emotion recognition in adults with moderate to severe TBI. Study One reports outcome data from the main trial. Seventy people with TBI and facial affect recognition difficulties were randomly assigned to nine sessions of one of three treatments: Faces, focusing on facial affect recognition, Stories, determining emotions from social context, and a control group. Participants completed tests assessing cognition, emotion recognition, community integration, interpersonal behaviour and empathy, and informants completed interpersonal and social functioning measures. Participants were assessed five times: initial screening, pre- and post-treatment, and at three- and six-month follow-up. Significant improvement was seen in the Faces group on the primary facial affect recognition outcome measure (DANVA2-Adult Faces). These gains were sustained at six months. No significant differences between treatment groups and the control group were found on interpersonal and social functioning measures. Study Two had 75 participants with facial affect recognition difficulties and investigated the relationship between facial affect recognition impairment and cognitive functioning. Greater facial affect recognition failures were related particularly to working memory, processing speed, and nonverbal memory. No relationship was found with executive functioning. Study Three explored the relationship between baseline cognitive variables, changes in cognitive functioning, and long term treatment response. Only older age was predictive of a better long-term response to Faces treatment. Improvement of facial affect recognition was not mediated by changes in cognitive functioning. This research provides further evidence that retraining is possible for affect recognition difficulties after traumatic brain injury.
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    Enabling face-name recognition after brain injury using mobile technology : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Howard, Philip Martin
    Acquired brain injury (ABI) is a term that encompasses a wide range of mechanisms that cause damage to the brain, however in New Zealand the most common causes of ABI are traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke. One of the most commonly reported and enduring difficulties from TBI and stroke is in memory function, however research also indicates that these brain injuries also negatively impact affective functioning, as well as social and interpersonal relationships. Although recovery from brain injury can to some degree be predicted from measures of injury severity, the course of recovery can be aided by cognitive rehabilitation. One of the most effective types of cognitive rehabilitation for prospective memory difficulties is the use of external compensatory strategies using electronic devices such as mobile phones. However, no studies could be found which have investigated the use of mobile phones in supporting those who have face-name memory difficulties following ABI. These face-naming difficulties have been associated with increased social isolation and reduced wellbeing in survivors; therefore finding an effective intervention is an important goal. The present study included the development of an iPhone application to act as an external compensatory device to support face-naming. Three hypotheses were tested through a single-case research design: (1) that the device would be effective in improving participants’ face-naming, (2) that improved face-naming ability would result in improved social interactions, and (3) improved face-naming would result in improved wellbeing. The results clearly indicated that the face-name application produced improvement in functional face naming across all participants, and participants also reported that they found the application helpful. Approximately half of the participants showed improvement in aspects of social interaction thought due to the intervention, but fewer than half showed improvements on measures of wellbeing. A significant correlation was found between how often the application was used, and changes in wellbeing. Recommendations for future research are discussed, as are implications for practice.
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    The effect of observers' mood on level of processing of emotional schematic faces : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2012) Mokhtari, Setareh
    The thesis examined the effect of mood on the processing of local details of emotional faces. In a series of experiments, this effect was investigated in different mood valences, intensities, and persistency. Happy, neutral and sad schematic faces were presented to happy or sad participants, who were asked to count particular features of the presented faces. It was assumed that the time needed to count the parts of each facial expression would reveal the ease of attentional resources allocation to the local elements of that facial emotion. The results showed that counting the parts of sad faces needed more time; it is likely that the global level processing of sad faces captured attention and interfered with fast access to local elements. The results also showed that higher intensity mood inductions (using music clips and recall tasks) and longer exposure to mood inductions might guide attention in different ways. Data showed that when happy and sad mood were induced in low intensity, attending to the local details was faster in happy mood compared to sad mood. On the contrary, when happy mood was experienced for a longer time, local processing was slower, although local processing was enhanced as the sad mood intensified or was experienced for longer period. This research concluded that the global interference effect is not a fixed phenomenon, but is influenced by contextual factors. Moreover, it was suggested that mood attributes (e.g., valence, intensity, or persistency) influence attentional strategies in processing of a compound shape.