AN INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF THE PHOTO‐FIT* TECHNIQUE FOR RECALLING FACES

Abstract

Two experiments concerning the efficiency of the Photo‐fit Kit for recalling faces are reported. The first of these tested subjects' ability to reconstruct photographs of faces made up of features randomly selected from the Kit. Two presentation procedures were examined: either the stimulus face was present throughout the reconstruction, or it was reconstructed from memory. The face present condition produced better reconstructions than did the memory condition, though both were far from perfect. Subjects (encoders) who had performed relatively well or badly on the memory condition in Expt. I were used in Expt. II which was concerned with the ease with which Photo‐fit reconstructions of a photographed real face could be identified (decoded) by other subjects. The overall success rate was quite low, but the reconstructions of good encoders were more easily recognized than were those of poor encoder subjects.