You shall not pass: how facial variability and feedback affect the detection of low-prevalence fake IDs

• Main Authors: Dawn R. Weatherford, William Blake Erickson, Jasmyne Thomas, Mary E. Walker, Barret Schein
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2020-01-01
• Series: Cognitive Research
• Subjects: Low-prevalence effect; Facial identification; Imposter identification; Performance feedback; Receiver operating characteristic curves
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-019-0204-1

Abstract In many real-world settings, individuals rarely present another person’s ID, which increases the likelihood that a screener will fail to detect it. Three experiments examined how within-person variability (i.e., differences between two images of the same person) and feedback may have influenced criterion shifting, thought to be one of the sources of the low-prevalence effect (LPE). Participants made identity judgments of a target face and an ID under either high, medium, or low mismatch prevalence. Feedback appeared after every trial, only error trials, or no trials. Experiment 1 used two controlled images taken on the same day. Experiment 2 used two controlled images taken at least 6 months apart. Experiment 3 used one controlled and one ambient image taken at least 1 year apart. Importantly, receiver operating characteristic curves revealed that feedback and greater within-person variability exacerbated the LPE by affecting both criterion and discriminability. These results carry implications for many real-world settings, such as border crossings and airports, where identity screening plays a major role in securing public safety.