Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2025
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Jong-Sung Yoon
Abstract
Our brains are incredibly skilled at recognizing faces, even decades later after first viewing a face. Face recognition is a crucial social function, enabling us to identify and interact appropriately with others. Studies have identified specific brain regions, such as the fusiform face area, that are specialized for this task. Additionally, areas around the eyes have been shown to be crucial to our face recognition ability. Despite the abundant research in face recognition, little is known about how we recognize familiar versus unfamiliar faces when the eye region is redacted. To understand the role familiarity plays in eye redacted face recognition a two phase experiment consisting of a learning phase, where participants viewed faces with and without eye regions, and a testing phase, where they attempted to recognize these faces, was conducted. Data was analyzed using a signal detection model to measure sensitivity in recognizing faces. The study found that sensitivity to familiar face recognition and confidence levels was significantly higher than the sensitivity and confidence levels of unfamiliar faces. Additionally, the method of complete redaction of the eye region used in this study produced a significantly lower recognition and confidence in recognition when compared to recognition and confidence in recognizing faces without eye region redaction. Lastly, while no interaction effects were observed between familiarity and eye redaction, the data suggests a trend where familiarity could partially buffer against reduced recognition accuracy due to eye redaction. Not only do the findings from the present study showcase a more efficient methodological approach to evaluate face recognition but the results suggest potential eye redaction resilience due to familiarity, which merits further exploration in future studies.
Subject Categories
Cognitive Psychology | Psychology
Keywords
face recognition, familiar faces, unfamiliar faces, eye region redaction, fusiform face area, facial perception, signal detection theory, recognition sensitivity, confidence levels, visual processing, social cognition, facial familiarity, methodological approach, perceptual resilience, recognition accuracy
Number of Pages
44
Publisher
University of South Dakota
Recommended Citation
Gandy, Tyler, "EYE REGION REDACTION: FAMILIAR VERSUS UNFAMILIAR FACE RECOGNITION" (2025). Dissertations and Theses. 382.
https://red.library.usd.edu/diss-thesis/382