The relationship between face memory and executive function in adults

Abstract

Motivated by applied applications (e.g., eyewitness identification), a great deal of research has been done to understand people’s ability to recognize unfamiliar faces. Most research on face memory to date aims to see under what conditions memory for unfamiliar faces is at its most accurate. Despite great knowledge gained in this area, there is still not a full understanding of the mechanisms that drive unfamiliar face memory recognition. To investigate these mechanisms, this thesis investigated how individual differences and executive function (EF) relate to the ability to remember faces. Using a within-subjects design, 52 adult participants completed an old/new face memory task and eight tasks designed to measure three elements of EF: working memory, inhibitory control, and metamemory. Face memory performance was measured by calculating discriminability (d') and bias (C). In line with the hypothesis, participants with higher scores on one working memory task (List Sorting Working Memory test) showed better face memory performance (d'). Contrary to hypotheses, we did not find evidence that participants' scores on inhibitory and metamemory tasks were predictive of face memory performance in adults. The significant relationships between working memory and face memory performance are likely driven by the fact that both the List Sorting Working Memory test and face memory rely on systems in visual working memory.