Clark Kent’s Glasses Aided His Anonymity
克拉克·肯特的“隐身”眼镜

Slightly altering one’s appearance-even with glasses-can indeed hinder facial recognition by others. Erika Beras reports.
轻微地改变某个人的外貌——也许仅仅是戴上眼镜——便可以成功地妨碍其他人的面部识别能力。埃丽卡·贝拉斯报道。

撰文/播音：埃丽卡·贝拉斯(Erika Beras)
翻译：郭鑫鹏
审校：索红日

Ever wonder how the citizens of metropolis somehow could not recognize Clark Kent once he ditched the glasses and became Superman? Well, now there’s an actual scientific explanation: When a person alters their appearance, even in small ways like adding a pair of glasses, it can indeed lessen the ability of others who do not know that person to recognize his or her face.
有没有想过为什么当克拉克·肯特摘下眼镜变身超人时，市民们没有把他认出来？这其实是有科学根据的：当一个人的外貌改变，也许仅仅只是戴上了一副眼镜后，就可以降低那些不熟悉他的人认出他的可能性。

The study is in the journal Applied Cognitive psychology. [Robin S. S. Kramer and Kay L. Ritchie, Disguising Superman: How Glasses Affect Unfamiliar Face Matching]
其相关研究发表在期刊《应用认知心理学》。

Psychologists Robin Kramer and Kay Ritchie from the University of York in the U.K. showed volunteers pictures of unknown people-not celebrities. The photos came from Google Images, and featured people in various poses, with different facial expressions and changing lighting.
英国约克大学心理学家罗宾·克雷默和凯·里奇向志愿者们展示一些非名人的照片。这些照片取自谷歌图像，照片上的人们有各种各样的姿势、不同的表情以及变化的灯光。

The participants saw two photos at the same time-either two pictures of the same person or a different person in each picture. Three possible pairs of pictures were presented: both people wore glasses; neither person wore glasses; or only one of the pair of people had glasses on.
志愿者们被要求同时观察两张照片，这两张图片可能是同一个人也可能是不同的两个人。其中有三种可能的组合：两个人都戴着眼镜；两个人都没戴眼镜；一个人戴眼镜而另一个人没戴。

Then the researchers asked the volunteers whether the pictures were of the same person or of two different people.
接着研究者们询问志愿者们每一组图片是同一人还是不同的人。

When the folks in both pictures were in the same condition-either both with glasses or both without-the participants were about 80 percent accurate in telling whether it was the same person or a different person in the two pics. But accuracy fell to 74 percent when glasses were worn in only one of the pictures.
当两幅图片上人物的参考条件一致时——同时戴眼镜或同时不戴眼镜——参与者们回答的正确率达到了80%。但是当两幅图片中只有一人戴眼镜时，正确率则降到了74%。

The researchers noted that the appearance of the eyes may be the most important aspect of facial recognition, so a change to the eyes could be expected reduce recognition. But trained examiners, such as TSA agents, may be less fooled by such simple modifications.
研究者们指出眼睛的状态可能是面部识别中最重要的一点。所以眼睛的改变可以有效的降低识别的准确度。但是像运输安全管理局专员这样经过训练的检查员，就很难被这些简单的伪装迷惑了。

The researchers concluded their paper by writing [quote]: ”While we may still find it hard to believe that the inhabitants of Metropolis are unable to match Clark Kent with the numerous appearances of Superman in newspapers and on television, we can at least understand why Kent has chosen glasses as his aid to anonymity.”
研究者们总结道“我们或许还是很难相信那些大城市的市民们无法将在电视上和报纸上多次出现的超人与克拉克·肯特联系起来，但我们至少可以理解为什么肯特选择使用眼镜来隐藏自己了”

-Erika Beras

原文链接：
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/clark-kent-s-glasses-aided-his-anonymity/

（题图来源：https://image.baidu.com）