Face naming study

Describing an unfamiliar face can impede its later recognition. This phenomenon, known as the verbal overshadowing effect, is one of the most problematic issues affecting eyewitness testimony. This study examined whether generating a name for a target face could mitigate VOE and enhance lineup identification accuracy. Participants were assigned to one of four face naming conditions: (a) immediately after viewing the target person, (b) just before describing the target face, (c) prior to the identification task, or (d) no face naming (control). Results showed that participants who generated a name immediately before describing the face showed significantly higher identification accuracy than those in other naming conditions or the control group. Face naming appears to strengthen familiarity, making facial representation more robust against the disruptive effects of verbalization. These findings introduce the “face name generating effect” as a promising cognitive intervention for preserving the eyewitness memory integrity.

对陌生面孔进行言语描述会阻碍后续的面孔再认过程，这一现象被称为言语遮蔽效应（verbal overshadowing effect），是困扰目击者证词可靠性的核心问题之一。本研究旨在考察为目标面孔生成姓名是否能够缓解言语遮蔽效应（VOE），并提升面孔列队辨认的准确率。被试被分配至四种面孔命名实验条件之一：(a) 观看目标人物后立即进行命名；(b) 描述目标面孔前即刻进行命名；(c) 辨认任务开始前进行命名；(d) 不执行面孔命名任务（对照组）。实验结果显示，在描述目标面孔前即刻生成姓名的被试，其面孔辨认准确率显著高于其他命名条件组及对照组被试。面孔命名似乎能够强化个体对面孔的熟悉感，使面孔表征更为稳固，从而抵御言语表述带来的干扰效应。本研究提出了「面孔姓名生成效应（face name generating effect）」，其作为一种极具应用前景的认知干预手段，可用于维护目击者记忆的完整性。