Can You Spot A Fake Photo?

Original photograph of woman near canal - credit Sophie Nightingale/University of Warwick

The results of an online experiment conducted by Warwick University suggests that quite a few people are easily fooled by manipulated photographs.

The research, led by Sophie Nightingale from the Department of Psychology, has discovered that when people were faced with manipulated images of real-world scenes, they failed to spot around thirty-five percent of them.

659 people aged 13-70 were asked to view a set of images of ordinary scenes, some of which had been digitally altered by the researchers, and they were asked if they thought the photographs they were viewing had been digitally altered. 

Manipulated photograph of woman near canal - credit Sophie Nightingale/University of Warwick

Just over half (58%) of the original, unaltered images were correctly identified and only 65% of the photographs which had been manipulated were spotted. Plus, those who thought a photo had been manipulated weren't always able to say which part of the image was edited. 

"The research suggests that people, in general, have an extremely limited ability to detect and locate manipulations of real-world scenes," say the researchers. 

Take The Test 

Do you think you can score better than the average? Take the test for yourself over on the Warwick University website. 

(Via PDNPULSE)