Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychological Sciences and Health University of Strathclyde Glasgow UK
2. School of Human Sciences Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich London UK
3. Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences London School of Economics and Political Science London UK
4. School of Psychology The University of Queensland Brisbane Australia
Abstract
AbstractHyper‐realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, more than 40 known criminal acts have been committed by perpetrators using this type of disguise. With the increasing availability and bespoke sophistication of these masks, research must now focus on ways to enhance their detection. In this study, we investigate whether super‐recognisers (SRs), people who excel at identity recognition, are more likely to detect this type of fraud, in comparison to typical‐recogniser controls. Across three tasks, we examined mask detection rates in the absence of a pre‐task prompt (covert task), and again after making participants aware of their use in criminal settings (explicit task). Finally, participants were asked to indicate which aspects of the masks could support their detection (regions of interest task). The findings show an SR advantage for the detection of hyper‐realistic masks across the covert and explicit mask detection tasks. In addition, the eye, mouth, and nose regions appear to be particularly indicative of the presence of a mask. The lack of natural skin texture, proportional features, expressiveness, and asymmetry are also salient cues. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.