Publications

This is a list of all publications by Dr Josh P Davis and our team at the Face and Voice Recognition Lab, University of Greenwich

Note

Unless marked otherwise, all articles are open access and are free to download from the publisher's website.

Articles marked with a star involved contributions from members of the Greenwich Face and Voice Recognition Lab's Volunteer Research Participant Pool.

The stimuli used in articles marked with an x were kindly donated by Volunteer Participant Pool members and others uploading images to our Greenwich Self-Photo and -Video Donated Stimuli Database system (more details here: https://www.superrecognisers.com/post/donate-photos-5-for-8-of-you-at-different-ages-easy-upload-system).

Names in bold were/are staff or students from the University of Greenwich.

Book of Edited Chapters (2015)

Valentine, T., & Davis, J. P. (2015). Forensic Facial Identification: Theory and Practice of Identification from Eyewitnesses, Composites and CCTV. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 978-1-118-46957-6. (Not available for free downloading for copyright reasons. Copies may be available from online stores, e.g. Forensic Facial Identification: Theory and Practice of Identification from Eyewitnesses, Composites and CCTV (Wiley Series in Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law): Amazon.co.uk: Valentine, Tim, Davis, Josh P: 9781118469583: Books)

2025

Pautz, N., Purser, H. R. M., Davis, J. P., Wade, K. A., McDougall, K., & Smith, H. M. J. (2025, June 26). Identifying voices using confidence judgements under deadline pressure. (Free to download pre-print: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/hp3da_v1) *

Gray, K. L. H., Davis, J. P., Bunce, C., Noyes, E., & Ritchie, K. L. (2025, Accepted). Training super-recognisers' detection and discrimination of computer-generated faces. Royal Society Open Access (Free to download pre-print: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/5jqh8_v2). *

Noyes, E., Moreton, R., Hancock, P. J. B., Ritchie, K., Martinez, S. C., Gray, K., & Davis, J. P. (2025, July 20). A forensic facial examiner and professional team advantage for masked facial identification. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 39(4), e70092. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.70092 * x

Davis, J. P., Robertson, D. J., Jenkins, R. E., Ibsen, M., Nichols, R., Babbs, M., Rathgeb, C., Løvåsdal, F., Raja, K., & Busch, C. (2025). The Super-Recogniser Advantage Extends to the Detection of Digitally manipulated faces. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 39(2), e70053. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.70053 *

2024

2022

Smith, H. M. J., Roeser, J., Pautz, N., Davis, J. P., Robson, J., Wright, D., Braber, N., & Stacey, P. (2022). Evaluating earwitness identification procedures: Adapting pre-parade instructions and parade procedure. Memory, 31(1), 147-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2022.2129065 *

Davis, J. P. (2022). Impact of research on “super-recognisers” on the establishment and staffing of specialist police units in the UK, Germany and Australia; improvements in suspect identification; creation of new commercial opportunities; improvement in public understanding. Impact Case Study: Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF, 2021). Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). https://results2021.ref.ac.uk/impact/1a971c2a-3d9e-45b3-aef2-9d6faf52430d?page=1

2021

Foster, J. H., Martin, C., & Davis, J. P. (2021). Alcohol consumption during the Covid lockdown period: Predictors of at-risk drinking at different AUDIT-C cut-off thresholds. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion, 18(24), 13042. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413042 *

Davis, J. P., Dray, C., Petrov, N., & Belanova, E. (2021). Low prevalence match and mismatch detection in simultaneous face matching: Influence of face recognition ability and feature focus guidance. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 83(7), 2937-2954. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02348-4 *

Belanova, E., Davis, J. P., & Thompson, T. (2021). The Part-Whole Effect in super-recognisers and typical-range ability controls. Vision Research, 187, 75-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2021.06.004 *

Davis, J. P., Jenkins, R., & Robertson, D. J. (2021, April 3). Super-recognisers: Some people excel at both face and voice recognition. Policing Insight. https://policinginsight.com/feature/innovation/super-recognisers-some-people-excel-at-both-face-and-voice-recognition/

Robertson, D.J., Davis, J. P., & Jenkins, R. (2021, March 31). Ils excellent dans la reconnaissance des visages et des voix. Ce sont les “super-reconnaisseurs.” The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/ils-excellent-dans-la-reconnaissance-des-visages-et-des-voix-ce-sont-les-super-reconnaisseurs-157955

Smith, H. M. J., Andrews, S., Baguley, T., Colloff, M. F., Davis, J. P., White, D., Rockey, J. C., & Flowe, H. D. (2021). Performance of typical and superior face recognisers on a novel interactive face matching procedure. British Journal of Psychology, 112(4), 964-881. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12499 *

Noyes, E., Davis, J. P., Petrov, P., Gray, K. L. H., Ritchie, K. (2021). The effect of face masks and sunglasses on identity and expression recognition with super-recognizers and typical observers. Royal Society Open Science, 8, 201169. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201169 *

Jenkins, R., Tsermentseli, S., Monks, C. P., Robertson, D. J., Stevenage, S. V., Symons, A. E., & Davis, J. P. (2021). Are super‐face‐recognisers also super‐voice‐recognisers? Evidence from cross‐modal identification tasks. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35, 590–605. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3813 *

Jenkins, R., Davis, J. P., Monks, C. P., Tsermentseli, S. (2021). Individual differences in face and voice recognition. The Cognitive Psychology Bulletin; Journal of the British Psychological Society: Cognitive Section, 6, 60-62. https://shop.bps.org.uk/the-cognitive-psychology-bulletin-issue-6-spring-2021 (Free to download pre-print: https://www.superrecognisers.com/_files/ugd/20d7c5_5fa6ea85f62149a4b28f9507e4396025.pdf).

Jenkins, R. J., Davis, J. P., & Robertson, D. (2021, March 12). Super-recognisers: some people excel at both face and voice recognition. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.xcsmrsway

Correll, J., Ma., D. S., & Davis, J. P. (2021). Perceptual tuning through contact? Contact interacts with perceptual (not memory-based) face-processing ability to predict cross-race recognition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 92, 104058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104058 *

Osborn, K., Davis, J. P., Button, S., & Foster, J. (2021). Juror decision making in acquaintance and marital rape: The influence of clothing, alcohol and pre-existing stereotypical attitudes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(5-6), NP2675-NP2696. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518768566 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/odbf2018). *

2020

Davis, J. P. (2020). CCTV and the super-recognisers. In C. Stott, B. Bradford, M. Radburn, and L. Savigar-Shaw (Eds.), Making an Impact on Policing and Crime: Psychological Research, Policy and Practice (pp 34-67). London: Routledge. ISBN 9780815353577. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429326592 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/34Phwjm).

Mcintosh, S., & Davis, J. P. (2020). The ‘casting couch’ scenario: Impact of perceived employment benefit, reporting delay, complainant gender, and participant gender on juror decision-making in rape cases. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(9-10) NP6676-NP6696. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520966679 *

Jansari, A., Green, E., Innocenti, F., Nardi, D., Belanova, E., & Davis, J. P. (2020, August 31). The Goldsmiths Unfamiliar Face Memory and Before They Were Adult Tests. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/cfgz9 *

Davis, J. P., Bretfelean, D., Belanova, E., & Thompson, T. (2020). Super-recognisers: face recognition performance after variable delay intervals. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(6), 1350-1368. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3712 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/3slkg0m). *

Robertson, D., Black, J., Chamberlain, B., Megreya, A. M., & Davis, J. P. (2020). Super-recognisers show an advantage for other race face identification. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(1), 205-216. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3608 *

Robertson, D., Megreya, A. M., & Davis, J. P. (2020). Facial recognition: research reveals new abilities of ‘super-recognisers’. The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/facial-recognition-research-reveals-new-abilities-of-super-recognisers-128414

Davis, J. P., & Robertson, D. (2020). Capitalizing on the super-recognition advantage: A powerful, but underutilized, tool for policing and national security agencies. Journal of the Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Centre, 7(1), 20-25. https://hdiac.dtic.mil/articles/capitalizing-on-the-super-recognition-advantage-a-powerful-but-underutilized-tool-for-policing-and-national-security-agencies/ (Note: This article was originally published in a US Government journal. It has been uploaded to a new archival site, and it now contains a number of errors. We recommend reading this free-to-download free-print instead: https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/29529/3/29529%20DAVIS_Capitalizing_On_The_Super-recognition_Advantage_%28AAM%29_2020.pdf).

Dunn, J., Summersby, S., Towler, A., Davis, J. P., & White, D. (2020). UNSW Face Test: A screening tool for super-recognizers. PLoS ONE 15(11), e0241747. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241747 *

2019

Smith, C., Davis, J. P., & Roberts, A. (2019, August 19). Probative or prejudicial: Biasing effects of background information in police body-worn video evidence on mock-juror decisions in victim-depressed domestic abuse cases. (Free to download pre-print: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/72xwh). *
Davis, J. P., Maigut, A., & Forrest, C. L. D. (2019). The wisdom of the crowd: A case of post- to ante-mortem face matching by police super-recognisers. Forensic Science International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.109910. (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dmfb2019).

Davis, J. P. (2019). The worldwide impact of identifying super-recognisers in police and business. The Cognitive Psychology Bulletin; Journal of the British Psychological Society: Cognitive Section, 4, 17-22. ISSN: 2397-2653. https://shop.bps.org.uk/the-cognitive-psychology-bulletin-issue-4-spring-2019 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/davisjp2019). *

Satchell, L., Davis, J. P., Julle-Danière, E., Tupper, N., & Marshman, P. (2019). Recognising faces but not traits: Accurate personality judgment from faces is unrelated to superior face memory. Journal of Research in Personality, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2019.02.002 *

2018

Belanova, E., Davis, J. P., & Thompson, T. (2018). Cognitive and neural markers of super-recognisers' face processing superiority and enhanced cross-age effect. Cortex, 98, 91-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.07.008 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/bdtb2018). *

Davis, J. P., Treml, F., Forrest, C., & Jansari, A (2018). Identification from CCTV: Assessing police super recognisers ability to spot faces in a crowd and susceptibility to change blindness. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 32(3), 337-353. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3405 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/3dtfj2018).

2017

Davis, J. P., Gibson, S., & Solomon, C. (2017). Holistic facial composite systems: Implementation and evaluation, in M. Bindemann and A. M. Megreya (Eds.), Face Processing: Systems, Disorders and Cultural Differences. Nova Science Publishers. (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dgsb2017).

Durova, M. D., Dimou, A., Litos, G., Daras, P., & Davis, J. P. (2017). TooManyEyes: Super-recogniser directed identification of target individuals on CCTV. Proceedings of the 8th IET International Conference on Imaging for Crime Detection and Prevention (ICDP-17), IET Digital Library, 43-48.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1071985 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/ddldd2017).

Davis, J. P., & Tamonytė, D. (2017). Masters of disguise: Super-recognisers’ superior memory for concealed unfamiliar faces. Proceedings of the 2017 Seventh International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies (EST), 6-8 September 2017, Canterbury, UK. https://doi.org/10.1109/EST.2017.8090397 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dtb2017). *

Bretfelean, L.D., & Davis, J. P. (2017, August 30). Super-face recognisers: Long-term memory for unfamiliar faces. Best Undergraduate Project Prize Winner 2017, British Psychological Society: Cognitive Section (poster presentation), Newcastle, England. (Free to download poster: https://www.superrecognisers.com/_files/ugd/ad5d0f_3ad805f56b0c45b3afb5c9206e30e102.pdf). *

2016

Davis, J. P., Lander, K., Evans, R., & Jansari, A. (2016). Investigating predictors of superior face recognition ability in police super-recognisers. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30(6), 827–840. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3260 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dlej2016).

Davis, J. P., Thorniley, S., Gibson, S., & Solomon, C. (2016). Holistic facial composite construction and subsequent lineup identification accuracy: Comparing adults and children. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 150(1), 102-118. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2015.1009867 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dtgs2016).

2015

Valentine, T., & Davis, J. P. (2015). Forensic facial identification: A practical guide to best practice. In T. Valentine and J. P. Davis (Eds.), Forensic Facial Identification: Theory and Practice of Identification from Eyewitnesses, Composites and CCTV (pp. 323-347). Chichester: WileyBlackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118469538.ch13 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/vdjp2015).

Davis, J. P., & Valentine, T. (2015). Human verification of identity from photographic images. In T. Valentine and J. P. Davis (Eds.), Forensic Facial Identification: Theory and Practice of Identification from Eyewitnesses, Composites and CCTV (pp. 211-238). Chichester: WileyBlackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118469538.ch9 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/djpv2015).

Valentine, T., & Davis, J. P. (2015). Eyewitness identification and surveillance of facial images: progress and problems. In T. Valentine and J. P. Davis (Eds.), Forensic Facial Identification: Theory and Practice of Identification from Eyewitnesses, Composites and CCTV (pp. 3-14). Chichester: WileyBlackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118469538.ch1 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/vdjpb2015).

Edmond, G., Davis, J. P., & Valentine, T. (2015). Expert analysis: Facial image comparison. In T. Valentine and J. P. Davis (Eds.), Forensic Facial Identification: Theory and Practice of Identification from Eyewitnesses, Composites and CCTV (pp. 239-262). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118469538.ch10 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/edv2015).

Davis, J. P., Maigut, A. C., Jolliffe, D., Gibson, S., & Solomon, C. (2015). Holistic facial composite creation
and subsequent video line-up eyewitness identification paradigm. Journal of Visualized Experiments,106, e53298. https://doi.org/10.3791/53298 (Free access: https://app.jove.com/pdf/53298/holistic-facial-composite-creation-subsequent-video-line-up).

Davis, J. P., Simmons, S., Sulley, L., Solomon, C. J., & Gibson, S. J. (2015). An evaluation of postproduction facial composite enhancement techniques. Journal of Forensic Practice, 17(4), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-08-2015-0042 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dsssg2015).

Davis, J. P., Valentine, T., Memon, A., & Roberts, A. J. (2015). Identification on the street: a field comparison of police street identifications and video line-ups in England. Psychology, Crime and Law, 1, 9-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2014.915322 (Free to download pre-print: https://www.superrecognisers.com/_files/ugd/9bb3fa_fe73f4ae93c04f0287d191ee3594f920.pdf?index=true).

2014

Davis, J. P., Gibson, S, & Solomon, C. (2014). The positive influence of creating a holistic facial composite on video lineup identification. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28, 634–639. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3045 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dgs2014).

Roberts, A. J., Davis, J. P., Valentine, T., & Memon, A. (2014). Should we be concerned about street identifications? Criminal Law Review, 9, 633-653. (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/rdvm2014).

2013

Davis, J. P., Lander, K., & Jansari, A. (2013). I never forget a face. The Psychologist, 26(10), 726-729. http://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-26/edition-10/i-never-forget-face
Davis, J. P. (2013). Super-recognisers in the Metropolitan Police. IFSEC Global, 15 October 2013. (Free to download pre-print: https://www.ifsecglobal.com/video-surveillance/super-recognisers-in-the-metropolitan-police/).

2012

Davis, J. P. (2012). Image comparison, facial, photographic. In A. Jamiesson and A. Moenssens (Eds.), Wiley Encyclopaedia of Forensic Science. Wiley: UK. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470061589.fsa1066 (Currently inaccessible)

Davis, J. P., Valentine, T., & Wilkinson, C. (2012). Facial image comparison. In C. Wilkinson and C. Rynn (Eds.), Craniofacial Identification (pp. 136-153). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139049566.012 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dvw2012).

Valentine, T., Davis, J. P., Memon, A., & Roberts, A. (2012). Live showups and their influence on a subsequent video lineup. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1796 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/vdmr2012).

2010

Davis, J. P., Valentine, T., & Davis, R. E. (2010). Computer assisted facial comparison of photographic images taken from full-face and profile viewpoints. Forensic Science International, 200, 165-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2010.04.012 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dvdb2010).

Valentine, T., Davis, J. P., Thorner, K., Solomon, C., & Gibson, S. (2010). Evolving and combining facial composites: Between-witness and within-witness morphs compared. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 16(1), 72-86. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0018801 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/vdtsg2010).

Davis, J. P., Sulley, L. Solomon, C., & Gibson, S. (2010). A comparison of individual and morphed facial composites created using different systems. In G. Howells, K. Sirlantzis, A. Stoica, T. Huntsberger and A.T. Arslan (Eds.), 2010 IEEE International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies (pp. 56–60). Canterbury: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/EST.2010.29 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dssg2010).

2009

Davis, J. P., & Valentine, T. (2009). CCTV on trial: Matching video images with the defendant in the dock. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23, 482-505. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1490 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/dv2009).

Scott, S. K., Rosen, S., Beaman, C. P., Davis, J. P., & Wise, R. J. S. (2009). The neural processing of masked speech: Evidence for different mechanisms in the left and right temporal lobes. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 125, 1737-1743. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3050255 (Free to download pre-print: https://bit.ly/srbdw2009).

2007

Davis, J. P. (2007, 31 January). The Forensic Identification of CCTV images of unfamiliar faces. PhD thesis. Goldsmiths College, University of London. (Free to download PDF available here: https://www.superrecognisers.com/_files/ugd/ad925e_e0c63058675d418a83786e68430cddd8.pdf).

2000

Wilding, J., Cook, S., & Davis, J. P. (2000). Sound familiar? The Psychologist, 13(11), 558-562. https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/sound-familiar

Busch, C., Davis, J. P., Robertson, D. J., Jenkins, R. E., Ibsen, M., Nichols, R., Babbs, M., Rathgeb, C., Løvåsdal, F., Raja, K. (2024, November 21). Does the ‘super recogniser’ advantage extend to the detection of digitally manipulated faces? Poster presented at the Combatting ID Fraud: New Tools for Image Manipulation Detection Conference, iMars, Brussels, Belgium. https://9bb3facc-0eb5-4965-958d-3dd61810f916.usrfiles.com/ugd/9bb3fa_fa0bdd6beeb84f669627c652390d122f.pdf *

Davies-Thompson, J., Morgan, D., Davis, J. P., & Towler, J. R. (2024). Face feature change detection ability in developmental prosopagnosia and super-recognisers. Brain Sciences, 14(6), 561. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14060561 *

Robertson, D. J., Davis, J. P., Sanders, J., & Towler, A. (2024). The super-recogniser advantage extends to the detection of hyper-realistic face masks. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 38(4), e4222. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/u2kja *

Ibsen, M., Nichols, R., Rathgeb, C., Robertson, D. J., Davis, J. P., Løvåsdal, F., Raja, K., Jenkins, R., & Busch, C (2024). Application-oriented face manipulation detection: combining algorithm and human examiner decisions. In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Workshop on Information Hiding and Multimedia Security (IH&MMSec’24), 41-46. https://doi.org/10.1145/3658664.3659649 *

Ritchie, K., Carragher, D., Davis, J. P., Read, K., Jenkins, R., Noyes, E., Gray, K., Hancock, P. (2024). Face masks and fake masks: The effect of real and superimposed masks on face matching with superrecognisers, typical observers, and algorithms. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 9(5), https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-024-00532-2 * x