What’s on : Lectures

Face Perception: from recognising friends to checking passports

Lectures
Date
30 Oct 2018
Start time
7:30 PM
Venue
Tempest Anderson Hall
Speaker
Professor Mike Burton, University of York
Face Perception: from recognising friends to checking passports

Event Information

Face Perception: from recognising friends to checking passports
Professor Mike Burton

We recognise our friends and family every day, but scientists still do not know how the brain achieves this. Face recognition is also critical in forensic and security settings – for example when monitoring CCTV or verifying passports.

Mike Burton will describe the scientific study of face recognition, comparing our human abilities to those of automatic systems. He will show examples of studies with police and security officers as they try to improve face recognition. Our society has come to rely on face recognition, for example in photo-ID, but it turns out there are limits to its use.

Professor Mike Burton is Head of the Psychology Department at the University of York. His research in face recognition includes collaborations with police and passport agencies throughout the world. He is a past President of the Experimental Psychology Society and a Fellow of the British Academy.