Facial Recognition Training To Prevent Racial Bias?

(Credit: VizCogLab/University of Victoria)

Researchers from Brown University and the University of Victoria recently completed a study that suggests training people to recognize different facial features of individuals of a different race may reduce racial biases displayed unconsciously.

The landmark study involved 20 Caucasian participants, all of which were shown a series of black and white pictures of African-American faces in what was called an 'implicit association test.' Following each photo was either nonsense or a real word, of which the real ones had either a positive or negative connotation. The individuals responded immediately whether the word was real or nonsensical.

Initially, participants responded more quickly when a negative word followed the image and more slowly if the word was positive. However, in the same tests following 10 hours of training in which the first half learned how to distinguish among African-American faces and the other half learned to identify simply whether the faces were African American or not, individuals in the first group showed an increase in positive associations with the pictures and a decrease in negative ones.

"As soon as you can tell those people apart better and you can really tell that they're different individuals, then you'd be less likely to make an automatic generalization," said Michael Tarr, a professor of brain and cognitive science at Brown University.

Previous studies in this area have confirmed this 'learned aspect' and show that it is less difficult for participants to distinguish between faces of people in the same racial group in which they were raised. In fact, one project suggested that African-American children raised by white adoptive parents were more easily able to differentiate between white faces than black ones.

Although limited in scope, researchers would like to think this idea of recognition training could potentially be universally successful and signal a possible end to racial bias. Researchers are optimistic that these results could have implications in the real world, particularly for police officers, social workers and immigration officials looking to improve their differentiation of members of a racial group other than their own.

"The idea is this that this sort of perceptual training gives you a new tool to address the kinds of biases people show unconsciously and may not even be aware they have," said Tarr.

In fact, co-author Jim Tanaka believes the Obama administration taking office might be a perfect real world example of this study in action, which was actually released the day Obama was inaugurated.

He thinks that for the small segment of Caucasian folks with little interaction with those of African-American ethnicity, the tight media coverage of the First Family and the president's network will allow them to learn the features that make each person's face distinct and allow them to adapt this knowledge to the general population.

"I think clearly anytime you have positive examples to help break stereotypes is good," Tarr said. "President Obama does that."

While studies show that humans (and bees!) are born with innate, complex abilities to determine facial recognition, harnessing these skills to more precisely process features looks to be a developed talent. I'm thrilled to see the advances we're making in the research field and excited to see how they play out going forward. Perhaps seeing "Facial Recognition Training 101" in orientation programs for various public-facing career fields is not such a bizarre thought after all.

Update: Obama Photosynth Results

Well the results of the CNN/Microsoft collaboration are in. Take a look at what happens when you "synth" the collective photographs of an innauguration crowd into a single 3D model.





More on Microsoft Photosynth here.

DHS Privacy Workshop Delivers Best Practices

As sophisticated surveillance grids continue to pop up nationwide, it was only a matter of time before a group of experts convened to discuss the trajectory of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) technology and explore best practices when installing the technology. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hosted its "CCTV: Developing Privacy Best Practices Workshop" over a year ago, only recently did the executive report summarizing the results of the conference surface.

As the Executive Summary states, the report serves as a best practices guide to avoid crossing privacy boundaries when deploying of CCTV systems as systems become more pervasive in both the private and public spheres. However, rather than advocate installation, the report serves as an objective guide to the various concerns to consider when first pondering the massive investment involved. Attending academics, researchers and government officials deliberated the importance of ensuring safeguards and civil liberties prior to deployment:

"These resources may be useful in helping government agencies build privacy and civil liberties protections into the design and implementation of a CCTV program. Failure to address privacy and civil liberties can undermine public support for the use of CCTV and erode confidence in the government's ability to protect privacy and civil liberties while protecting the Homeland."

Six panels ranging from an in-depth look at CCTV technologies being used today to general international surveillance practices culminated in suggestions on how to comply with major concerns based on the Fair Information Practices Principles (FIPPs), a set of principles that have long served as a framework for protecting privacy within the United States and abroad since 1973.

With the Obama administration taking office earlier this week, we won't know the specifics on his agenda to "Protect Critical Infrastructure", but the new President's stated objectives do include improving airline security, monitoring US ports, safeguarding public transportation and improving border security.

With a more sophisticated surveillance blanket covering the US, a best practices guide is certainly necessary to preserve individual privacy and civil liberties. In following through on his agenda action items, Obama's cabinet might want a copy of this 66-page manual delivered to the White House sooner rather than later.

Obama Onboard for Biometrics Spending

As we reported last month, biometrics spending worldwide is on the rise, and it looks like our new president won't be straying from the trend.

According to a recent study, President-elect Barack Obama and his administration team won't skimp when it comes to biometrics spending during their first year in office. The Stanford Group Co. research expects Obama's team to spend up to $1 billion on biometric applications, primarily in defense, intelligence and homeland security sectors. An expected $500-600 million will go to biometrics contracts, many of which were announced Tuesday, and additional intelligence programs may add another $250-350 million in expenditures.

A billion on biometrics? That's no small figure, and we look forward to tracking its development and impact in the years ahead.