The role of attentional interventions and individual differences in the detection of low prevalence fake IDs

Identification card screeners protect the public by prohibiting and redirecting criminals who attempt to access restricted goods, services, and spaces. This ID screening, therefore, is one of many routinized tasks for which low-frequency items, such as valid IDs presented by an imposter, often go undetected (i.e. Low Prevalence Effect, LPE). We sought to 1) investigate individual differences in face-matching ability that may inoculate against the LPE and 2) disrupt the attentional template cemented by responses to high-frequency items. Participants completed 100 screening trials of a video beside an ID card with an embedded facial photo. We manipulated task orientation (genuine or imposter), mismatch trial prevalence (low, medium, or high), and attentional disruption (present or absent). E1 did not include feedback, but E2 did. After completing the ID screening task, participants completed the Kent Face Matching Task (KFMT). Promisingly, KFMT scores predicted hits and false alarms on the ID screening task, regardless of prevalence. However, imposter task orientation reduced performance under some of the imbalanced, but not balanced, mismatch prevalence conditions. This bias likely limited straightforward interpretation of the attentional disruption intervention. We consider this evidence within the broader context of both the laboratory and legal system.