Passport Officers’ Errors in Face Matching

Face age only affected accuracy in target present trials, both here and in previous work, and so does not account for the equivalent error rates observed in target absent arrays.

“However, face age only affected accuracy in target present trials, both here and in previous work [17, 23], and so does not account for the equivalent error rates we observed in target absent arrays.”

Error-rates in tests of unfamiliar face identification typically average 20-30% for both novices and trained practitioners.

“Error-rates in tests typically average 20–30% for both novices and trained practitioners [5–9].”

Participants in these studies were facial reviewers-non-specialist facial image comparison practitioners who perform fast, high-volume face identifications (e.g. at border control).

“Instead, participants in these studies were facial reviewers–non-specialist facial image comparison practitioners who perform fast, high-volume face identifications (e.g. at border control).”

Face aging caused poorer performance compared to similar tasks where images were taken on the same day.

“To account for this, and consistent with recent work [17, 23] we suggest that face aging caused poorer performance compared to similar tasks where images were taken on the same day [12].”

Previous research has shown that face aging makes unfamiliar face matching more difficult, increasing error by 20% when images are separated by more than a year.

“Previous research has shown that face aging makes unfamiliar face matching more difficult, increasing error by 20% when images are separated by more than a year [17, 22, 23] and so we expected error rates to be higher than in similar test using images taken on the same day [12].”

Facial Review staff perform many face matching decisions per day but check FR candidate lists as part of eligibility checks; they typically receive a small amount of training when commencing employment.

“Facial review staff perform many face matching decisions per day, but check FR candidate lists as part of a series of eligibility checks that make up the majority of processing. These passport officers have typically received a small amount of training when commencing employment, and perform a similar role to passport officers tested in previous studies of face matching ability [17].”

Humans are notoriously poor at identifying unfamiliar faces.

“This lack of empirical validation for facial image comparison training courses is particularly concerning because humans are notoriously poor at identifying unfamiliar faces.”

In a live photo-to-person identity verification task, passport officers accepted 14% of fraudulent ID documents and rejected 6% of valid IDs.

“In a live photo-to-person identity verification task for example, passport officers accepted 14% of fraudulent ID documents and rejected 6% of valid IDs [9].”

Given that so few of the training courses reviewed here made reference to the difficulty of unfamiliar face identification, ineffective training could strengthen people's misplaced confidence in their ability to accurately judge the identity of unfamiliar faces.

“Given that so few of the training courses reviewed here made reference to the difficulty of unfamiliar face identification (e.g., [9, 10]), ineffective training could strengthen people’s misplaced confidence in their ability to accurately judge the identity of unfamiliar faces.”

Previous studies have examined the relationship between the length of time employed in a professional role and face identification accuracy to understand the role of on-the-job learning.

“However, previous studies have examined the relationship between the length of time employed in a professional role and face identification accuracy to understand the role of on-the-job learning [9, 10, 27, 28].”

These studies all show no improvement with more professional experience, suggesting that on-the-job learning in these particular roles does not help develop expertise.

“These studies all show no improvement with more professional experience, suggesting that on-the-job learning in these particular roles does not help develop expertise.”

None of these studies included facial examiners.

“However, none of these studies included facial examiners.”

Passport officers are no better than the general population on unfamiliar face matching tasks.

“It is worth noting, for example, that passport officers are no better than the general population on such tasks (White et al., 2014).”

Passport officers with extensive experience in face matching were no more accurate than university students on tasks modeling their daily duties.

“Despite extensive experience in face matching, these staff were no more accurate than a group of university students—on tasks that modeled decisions encountered in their daily duties.”

Studies reported here and in previous work show large and stable individual differences in face matching accuracy that are unrelated to length of professional experience.

“Studies reported here and in previous work show large and stable individual differences in face matching accuracy that are unrelated to length professional experience [15, 17, 32].”

Face matching performance declines when task demands are increased, such as when viewpoint varies between the two images or there are long time periods between image captures.

“and when task demands are increased (e.g., viewpoint varies in the two images: Estudillo & Bindemann, 2014; or there are long time periods between the two image captures: White et al., 2014).”