Decision-making framing in facial image comparison

Unfamiliar face identification is a challenging task and is often considered to be perceptual in nature. This ignores the contribution of decision making in face identification. Across three experiments, we examined whether face-matching decisions would change depending on the framing of response options. In Experiment 1, participants completed an unfamiliar face-matching task with the Same/Different, Same/Not-Same, or Same/Proceed-to-Next-Trial response options. In Experiment 2, participants completed the task twice, once with the Same/Different response options and once with the Same/Different, Same/Not-Same, or Same/Proceed-to-Next-Trial response options. In Experiment 3, participants completed the task when 50% or 80% of trials were matches and used the Same/Different or Same/Proceed-to-Next-Trial response options. Whereas we found no evidence that face-identification decisions were influenced by the framing of response options, we found evidence of a robust base rate effect. Together, these findings suggest that decision making in unfamiliar face identification is a complex and selective process.