Dr Alice Towler
UQ Amplify Senior Lecturer
School of Psychology
Book Chapters
White, David, Towler, Alice and Kemp, Richard I. (2021). Understanding professional expertise in unfamiliar face matching. Forensic face matching: research and practice. (pp. 62-88) edited by Markus Bindemann. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198837749.003.0004
Towler, Alice, Kemp, Richard I. and White, David (2021). Can face identification ability be trained? Evidence for two routes to expertise. Forensic face matching: research and practice. (pp. 89-114) edited by Markus Bindemann. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198837749.003.0005
Towler, Alice, Kemp, Richard I. and White, David (2017). Unfamiliar face matching systems in applied settings. Face processing: systems, disorders and cultural differences. (pp. 21-40) edited by Markus Bindemann and Ahmed M. Megreya. New York, NY, United States: Nova Science Publishers.
Journal Articles
Popovic, B., Dunn, J. D., Towler, A. and White, D. (2025). Normative face recognition ability test scores vary across online participant pools. Scientific Reports, 15 (1) 8805. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-92907-8
Growns, Bethany, Dunn, James D., Helm, Rebecca K., Towler, Alice, Mattijssen, Erwin J. A. T. and Martire, Kristy A. (2024). Jack of all trades, master of one: domain-specific and domain-general contributions to perceptual expertise in visual comparison. Cognitive Research-Principles and Implications, 9 (1) 73. doi: 10.1186/s41235-024-00596-0
Dunn, James D., Towler, Alice, Popovic, Bojana, de Courcey, Ayden, Lee, Na-Young, Kemp, Richard I., Miellet, Sebastien and White, David (2024). Flexible use of facial features supports face identity processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 50 (12), 1143-1153. doi: 10.1037/xhp0001242
Robertson, David J., Davis, Josh P., Sanders, Jet G. and Towler, Alice (2024). The super‐recogniser advantage extends to the detection of hyper‐realistic face masks. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 38 (4) e4222. doi: 10.1002/acp.4222
Growns, Bethany, Towler, Alice and Martire, Kristy (2024). Correction to: The novel object-matching test (NOM Test): A psychometric measure of visual comparison ability(Behavior Research Methods, 10.3758/s13428-023-02069-6). Behavior Research Methods, 56 (3), 2692-2694. doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02154-w
Growns, Bethany, Towler, Alice and Martire, Kristy (2024). The novel object-matching test (NOM Test): a psychometric measure of visual comparison ability. Behavior Research Methods, 56 (2), 680-689. doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02069-6
Martire, Kristy A., Chin, Jason M., Davis, Carolyn, Edmond, Gary, Growns, Bethany, Gorski, Stacey, Kemp, Richard I., Lee, Zara, Verdon, Christopher M., Jansen, Gabrielle, Lang, Tanya, Neal, Tess M.S., Searston, Rachel A., Slocum, Joshua, Summersby, Stephanie, Tangen, Jason M., Thompson, Matthew B., Towler, Alice, Watson, Darren, Werrett, Melissa V., Younan, Mariam and Ballantyne, Kaye N. (2024). Understanding ‘error’ in the forensic sciences: A primer. Forensic Science International: Synergy, 8 100470, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2024.100470
Varela, Victor P. L., Towler, Alice, Kemp, Richard I. and White, David (2023). Looking at faces in the wild. Scientific Reports, 13 (1) 783, 1-11. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-25268-1
Towler, Alice, Dunn, James D., Castro Martínez, Sergio, Moreton, Reuben, Eklöf, Fredrick, Ruifrok, Arnout, Kemp, Richard I. and White, David (2023). Diverse types of expertise in facial recognition. Scientific Reports, 13 (1) 11396, 1-15. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-28632-x
Dunn, James D., Towler, Alice, Kemp, Richard I. and White, David (2023). Selecting police super-recognisers. PLoS One, 18 (5) e0283682, 1-23. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283682
Tyler, Rebecca, Towler, Alice, Kemp, Richard I. and White, David (2022). Let's talk about faces: identifying faces from verbal descriptions. British Journal of Psychology, 114 (1), 262-281. doi: 10.1111/bjop.12610
Growns, Bethany, Dunn, James D., Helm, Rebecca K., Towler, Alice and Kukucka, Jeff (2022). The low prevalence effect in fingerprint comparison amongst forensic science trainees and novices. PLoS ONE, 17 (8 ) e0272338. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272338
Growns, Bethany, Towler, Alice, Dunn, James D., Salerno, Jessica M., Schweitzer, N. J. and Dror, Itiel E. (2022). Statistical feature training improves fingerprint-matching accuracy in novices and professional fingerprint examiners. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7 (1) 60. doi: 10.1186/s41235-022-00413-6
Carragher, Daniel J., Towler, Alice, Mileva, Viktoria R., White, David and Hancock, Peter J. B. (2022). Masked face identification is improved by diagnostic feature training. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7 (1) 30. doi: 10.1186/s41235-022-00381-x
Growns, Bethany, Dunn, James D., Mattijssen, Erwin J. A. T., Quigley-McBride, Adele and Towler, Alice (2022). Match me if you can: evidence for a domain-general visual comparison ability. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 29 (3), 866-881. doi: 10.3758/s13423-021-02044-2
Edmond, Gary, White, David, Towler, Alice, San Roque, Mehera and Kemp, Richard (2022). Facial recognition and image comparison evidence: identification by investigators, familiars, experts, super-recognisers and algorithms. Melbourne University Law Review, 45 (1), 99-160.
Towler, Alice, Keshwa, Michelle, Ton, Bianca, Kemp, Richard and White, David (2021). Diagnostic feature training improves face matching accuracy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 47 (8), 1288-1298. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000972
Dunn, James D., Summersby, Stephanie, Towler, Alice, Davis, Josh P. and White, David (2020). UNSW Face Test: a screening tool for super-recognizers. Plos One, 15 (11) e0241747, e0241747. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241747
Robertson, David J., Sanders, Jet G., Towler, Alice, Kramer, Robin S. S., Spowage, Josh, Byrne, Ailish, Burton, A. Mike and Jenkins, Rob (2020). Hyper-realistic face masks in a live passport-checking task. Perception, 49 (3), 298-309. doi: 10.1177/0301006620904614
Towler, Alice, Kemp, Richard I., Burton, A. Mike, Dunn, James D., Wayne, Tanya, Moreton, Reuben and White, David (2019). Do professional facial image comparison training courses work?. Plos One, 14 (2) e0211037, e0211037. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211037
Towler, A., Kemp, R. I., Bruce, V., Burton, A. M., Dunn, J. D. and White, D. (2019). Are face recognition abilities in humans and sheep really 'comparable'?. Royal Society Open Science, 6 (1) 180772, 180772. doi: 10.1098/rsos.180772
Towler, Alice, White, David, Ballantyne, Kaye, Searston, Rachel A., Martire, Kristy A. and Kemp, Richard I. (2018). Are forensic scientists experts?. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 7 (2), 199-208. doi: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2018.03.010
Kramer, Robin S. S., Manesi, Zoi, Towler, Alice, Reynolds, Michael G. and Burton, A. Mike (2018). Familiarity and within-person facial variability: the importance of the internal and external features. Perception, 47 (1), 3-15. doi: 10.1177/0301006617725242
Kramer, Robin S. S. , Telfer, Caitlin G. R. and Towler, Alice (2017). Visual comparison of two data sets: do people use the means and the variability?. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 3 (1), 97-111. doi: 10.5964/jnc.v3i1.100
Edmond, Gary, Towler, Alice, Growns, Bethany, Ribeiro, Gianni, Found, Bryan, White, David, Ballantyne, Kaye, Searston, Rachel A., Thompson, Matthew B., Tangen, Jason M., Kemp, Richard I. and Martire, Kristy (2017). Thinking forensics: cognitive science for forensic practitioners. London, United Kingdom, 57 (2), 144-154. doi: 10.1016/j.scijus.2016.11.005
Towler, Alice, White, David and Kemp, Richard I. (2017). Evaluating the feature comparison strategy for forensic face identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 23 (1), 47-58. doi: 10.1037/xap0000108
Edmond, Gary, Found, Bryan, Martire, Kristy, Ballantyne, Kaye, Hamer, David, Searston, Rachel, Thompson, Matthew, Cunliffe, Emma, Kemp, Richard, San Roque, Mehera, Tangen, Jason, Dioso-Villa, Rachel, Ligertwood, Andrew, Hibbert, David, White, David, Ribeiro, Gianni, Porter, Glenn, Towler, Alice and Roberts, Andrew (2016). Model forensic science. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 48 (5), 496-537. doi: 10.1080/00450618.2015.1128969
Towler, Alice, White, David and Kemp, Richard I. (2014). Evaluating training methods for facial image comparison: the face shape strategy does not work. Perception, 43 (2-3), 214-218. doi: 10.1068/p7676