Professor Josh Davis and CEO Mike Neville feature on this episode of Frontline Fightback. It is available to those able to view BBC i-player. The section on SRs is approximately 29 minutes into the programme.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000tyny/frontline-fightback-series-1-episode-10
New research by Professor Josh Davis and others has been conducted into the effect of subjects wearing masks and sunglasses on image matching. Once again, this demonstrates the importance of HUMAN Super Recognisers to law enforcement and security.
The abstract is below:
Face masks present a new challenge to face identification (here matching) and emotion recognition in Western cultures. Here, we present the results of three experiments that test the effect of masks, and also the effect of sunglasses (an occlusion that individuals tend to have more experienced with) on (i) familiar face matching, (ii) unfamiliar face matching and (iii) emotion categorization. Occlusion reduced accuracy in all three tasks, with most errors in the mask condition; however, there was little difference in performance for faces in masks compared with faces in sunglasses. Super-recognizers, people who are highly skilled at matching unconcealed faces, were impaired by occlusion, but at the group level, performed with higher accuracy than controls on all tasks. Results inform psychology theory with implications for everyday interactions, security and policing in a mask-wearing society.
For those who can access BBC television, Super Recognisers will feature on the programme “Frontline Fightback” on Friday at 11am on BBC1.
The latest research regarding Super Recogniser and voice recognition has been published in French. A translation is below. For the article see:
They excel at recognizing faces and voices. These are the "super-recognizers"
Are you good at recognizing faces? And the voices? Some people are very good and others have a hard time. Researchers have actually found a great variation in the ability of people to recognize the faces or voices of people who are completely unknown to them.
When it comes to face recognition, abilities vary between those who have difficulty recognizing the faces of friends and family - a condition known as "prosopagnosia" or face blindness - and those who have demonstrated exceptional skills in recognizing unfamiliar faces, called “super-recognizers” or “super-physiognomists”.
These super scouts are often hired by many detective agencies, and by the police. In London, they are said to do a quarter of the identifications on their own.
A similar aptitude could also exist for speech recognition. What is known at the moment is that some people have difficulty recognizing the voices of their friends and own family. This condition is called "phonagnosia". However, the question of whether a person can possess exceptionally good speech recognition ability has not been investigated so far.
In a new study, we tested whether super face recognizers could transfer their abilities to voice recognition, in order to explore the possibility that there are also super voice recognizers.
Two distinct capacities
In general, to assess the ability levels of super-recognizers, researchers often used two tests. First, the Cambridge face memory test measures the ability to observe and remember a face. Next, the Glasgow face matching test is used to measure the ability to tell whether two faces belong to the same person or to two different people.
However, just being good at recognizing a face does not necessarily mean that a person is also good at comparing faces. Research has shown that even super-recognizers can have very good face memory, but be on par with participants with “normal” face comparison abilities and vice versa.
Voice tests have also been designed, not to measure super-recognition abilities, but rather to measure the general ability to remember a voice, and to detect whether two voices belong to the same person or to two different people. . But how well can super-recognizers perform well on voice tests? This has not yet been reviewed.
Super voice recognizers
In our recent study, we tested four groups of participants, based on their ability to memorize and identify faces. Participants took a voice memory test, a voice match test, and a celebrity voice ID test.
The study showed that speech recognition ability varies considerably more than what is found in current literature, which describes people by classifying them into two categories: typical or phonagnosic. We found that some participants were very good at speech recognition, beyond typical abilities.
Second, we found that those with exceptional face memory skills, face matching, or both, outperformed those with typical memory and voice matching skills.
Some participants managed to achieve consistently high scores on multiple tests. This suggests the possibility that there are indeed some super voice recognizers. However, more research is needed to substantiate this possibility.
Part of the reason is that the voice tests used were never originally designed to distinguish exceptional from very good, and therefore may be unable to fully explore higher abilities. of voice recognition. Thus, new voice tests specifically designed to focus on the upper end of the spectrum of speech recognition capabilities are needed.
Mechanisms of the brain
Our research suggests that there may be a link between these abilities and different mechanisms in the brain. These could be mechanisms of intermodality (voice and faces) and intertask (memory and perception) which, working together, lead to this type of superior capacity for recognizing voices and faces.
It is possible that these people could be useful in positions similar to those of super face recognizers, such as police and security forces. This is particularly relevant when voice clips are the only evidence available, such as in cases of telephone surveillance, kidnapping, fraud, blackmail and counterterrorism operations.
Our research is the first to explore the potential abilities of voice super-recognizers and consider whether those with exceptional face memorization, face comparison, or both skills can transfer their skills to voice testing.
It gives a first lead suggesting that people with excellent voice recognition skills might be able to improve police and security operations. The screening of people with such abilities could be a useful tool during the recruitment stages for this type of occupation.
A new study by psychologists at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), University of Birmingham, University of Greenwich and University of New South Wales has found that the use of interactive rotating images could help to reduce errors in facial recognition scenarios such as border control, police investigations and passport processing and CCTV or video surveillance recognition and investigations.
See the full article:
The Association has partnered with CCTV Training limited, who are offering a 10% discount to members on CCTV courses, including on-line updates. CCTV Training is headed by surveillance camera expert, Gordon Tyerman, who advises the SIA and Surveillance Camera Commissioner.
The Global MSC virtual conference can now be viewed on You Tube. Dr Craig Donald, who instructs on SRI Face to Face courses, gives a talk on making CCTV operators more effective by teaching them how to spot suspicious behaviour. There is also a presentation by Tony Porter, the recently retired UK Surveillance Camera Commissioner. He wrote the SCC Code of Practice, which is a critical part of SR training.
Developing Smart Surveillance Operators - Global MSC Security Online Event - March 2021 - YouTube
The Association have partnered with OSINT Combine to deliver to our members a bespoke open source intelligence course at a discounted price. You can develop your investigative abilities and learn to operate in a covert environment. This course is available to Association members ONLY.
Full details on this link:
ASR Open Source Intelligence Fundementals | OSINT Combine Academy
New research by Prof Josh Davis and PhD student Ryan Jenkins of Greenwich University, together with Dr David Robertson of the University of Strathclyde, has highlighted that some (face) super recognisers also excel at voice recognition.
Read the full article here:
Concerns have been expressed re the Clearview Facial Recognition which utilises billions of images taken from social media sources. Once again, the Association can only emphasise the need to have HUMAN Super Recognisers verify computer identifications before any action, especially arrest or searches of a person or their property are undertaken.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/18/magazine/facial-recognition-clearview-ai.html
The ASR is the professional body representing those who possess the super recogniser skills around the globe. Via our associate scheme, you will be able to access the latest developments in the science of super recognition, browse job opportunities and contact other practitioners from around the globe who share your unique skills and abilities. After a certain period of years in practice, you may even be invited to become a Fellow of the Association.
Have you got an amazing memory for human faces? Your skill could help law enforcement, security companies, Armed Forces or other organisations. You may just want to use your skill for fun OR are simply interested in Super Recognition.
There is NO need to have a background in security, the military or law enforcement. Super Recognisers come from a wide variety of backgrounds.
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