Look who's talking: recognizing friends from visible articulation

We tested whether isolated visible articulatory information can be used for identifying familiar speakers. A facial point-light methodology was used to isolate the visible articulation of seven speakers. These point-light video clips were then shown to nine participants who had long-term personal interactions with the speakers. Results revealed that participants could identify the speakers at better than chance levels when the faces were shown articulating, but not when the faces were shown without movement. The results indicate that visible articulatory information can be used to identify speakers.