[bmarlowe1]

There may be a scientific study on this, I don’t know. My experience indicates that it is true that the facial recognition part of the brain is significantly affected by external influences such as:

1) an identification provided by a supposed authority
2) a personal stake of some kind in the identification

I have seen examples of this that are completely ludicrous. In one case a major league team provided a photo of a person who was claimed to be a very well-known prior owner of the team for a magazine cover. Though was no resemblance whatsover to the real person (fat, full head of straight hair vs. thin with very curly hair and a receding hair-line), people could not decide whether or not this was the right person. It took a demonstration of ear-mismatch to get the cover changed.