Acute Anxiety Impairs Accuracy in Identifying Photographed Faces Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction

This study tries to address a very important question or issue. The authors wanted to investigate whether anxiety can modify the ability to match or identify photographed faces. In the article, the researchers asked whether acute anxiety could affect a person’s ability to match different faces. The study was necessary because the face-matching practice was becoming necessary towards dealing with insecurity. The researchers wanted to present the best ideas and practices towards improving the performance of eyewitnesses. This research was necessary because the identification of strange faces was always poor in different matching tasks.

Methods

The authors used the best methods to conduct their study. The researchers selected 28 individuals to undertake the study. Every participant was encouraged to provide informed consent. The participants were encouraged to inhale medical-grade air. They also inhaled air enriched with 7.5 percent carbon dioxide (CO₂). They completed the Glasgow Face Matching Test (GFMT) twice. The inhalation of 7.5 percent CO₂ is one of the legalized approaches for inducing acute anxiety. The collected data included arousal, measures of anxiety, and performance on the GFMT. The collected data would be termed as psychophysical thresholds.

Results and Conclusions

The findings indicated that face-matching performance was always impaired under states of arousal or elevated anxiety. However, the effect was specifically restricted to hits. According to the study, anxiety is capable of corrupting performance whenever individuals are engaged in face-matching activities. Anxiety will result in detrimental effects on face-matching activities. This situation usually occurs when an individual is not required to remember the targeted incident.

The authors also explain why there should be a dissociation between the ability to identify an accurate face match and the capability to spot a lack of one. The study findings supported the targeted hypothesis because acute anxiety can make it impossible for an individual to perform well in any face matching performance. The study findings also support the identified hypothesis. The authors have also correctly interpreted their results. The findings explain why security officers should focus on encoding processes to improve face-matching performance. The approach will be relevant towards dealing with crime and international terrorism.

Article Critique

I agree with the authors’ interpretation. The authors have explained why security officers and governments should establish the extent to which acute anxiety is capable of affecting the accuracy of face matching. After conducting the study, the researchers identified why anxiety can affect performance. The challenges associated with the accuracy of facial analysis and identification should be resolved to deal with terrorism and insecurity. Identification inaccuracy will always increase when the targeted viewers are suffering from acute anxiety. The authors used the best experimental design for the study.

The outstanding strength is the use of a proper research method for the study. The authors use the GFMT to get the required data. However, the authors fail to combine both qualitative and quantitative techniques to come up with the best results. The article does not have any source of bias. The authors have encouraged healthy participants to be part of the study. The authors used the best research design to control bias in the experiment. The authors also used the best tools and hypotheses to reduce error in the experiment. The participants were also not aware of the contents of the inhaled air. This approach was effective because the researchers obtained the best study findings.