Edinburgh Napier University

  Summary: Identification of faces from photographs is a common security measure, but matching unfamiliar faces produces high
rates of error. Caricatures of familiar people are highly identifiable because they exaggerate distinctive features. We investigated
whether exaggerating unfamiliar faces through caricaturing could also improve face-matching accuracy. In Experiment 1, facematching
arrays were caricatured relative to an average by 30%, 50% and 70%. Correct rejection of the target-absent arrays was
improved at all levels. Accurate matches increased at 30%, but at 70%, the transformation was too extreme, and all of the arrays
were more likely to be rejected. In Experiment 2, photographic identification (ID) images were caricatured by 30% and 50% and
matched to life-size photographs. Rejection of foils improved, but the ID of matching images was impaired. Modest levels of
caricature may improve discrimination in unfamiliar face matching, but at stronger levels, a conservative response bias may
inhibit accurate ID.