Losing a friend or a group of people at a big event - like festivals - is a rite of passage for many of us. You go to the toilet, fancy a bite to eat, or don't want to watch the same artist as them, and then wind up struggling to find them again. But did you know some people are better at spotting familiar faces in a crowd than others?
The University of Portsmouth has a pop-up research tent at the UK's biggest metropolitan family-friendly festival, Victorious Festival, this weekend (August 28 - 30) in the Kids Arena, with psychologists on the look-out for participants to take part in several short studies that'll test everything from a person's ability to coordinate on a multiplayer computer game or to spot their friend in a crowd.
Dr Stefana Juncu, Dr Harry Ramsey, and Dr Liam Satchell from the School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences will be testing people's awareness recognition skills.
The study, called Find Your Friend, asks pairs of festivalgoers who already know each other - friends, partners or family members - to find one another within a designated area of the festival. One member of the pair is briefed as the "target" and asked to carry on as normal, while the other takes on the role of "searcher" and has up to five minutes to track them down, describing their thinking out loud as they go.
The team hopes the findings will shed light on the cues and strategies people rely on to spot someone they know in a crowd.
We all know that feeling of losing someone in a crowd and not being able to find them again. What's interesting is that we don't actually know much about how people go about searching - do we rely mostly on faces, or do things like clothing and body language matter just as much?
Dr Stefana Juncu, School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences
Dr Juncu said: "We all know that feeling of losing someone in a crowd and not being able to find them again. What's interesting is that we don't actually know much about how people go about searching - do we rely mostly on faces, or do things like clothing and body language matter just as much?
"By studying real pairs trying to find each other at a festival, we're hoping to get much closer to understanding how this works outside the lab, which could ultimately help people whose job it is to find someone in a busy public space, like security teams, police, and paramedics."
Dr Sophie Milward from the University's Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology came up with the idea to work with Victorious Festival organisers a few years ago, as a creative way to help boost research participation numbers and engage more people with science.
She said: "Working with Victorious has been brilliant for us over the past few years - we get to meet thousands of people who'd never normally set foot in a university building, let alone take part in a psychology study. We think it's really important to think outside the box about how we engage people with science. Meeting people where they already are, and making research part of a fun day out, is such a valuable way to grow the pool of people who want to get involved in scientific discovery."
Please who take part will receive £5 per study (£10 for both).
Working with Victorious has been brilliant for us over the past few years - we get to meet thousands of people who'd never normally set foot in a university building, let alone take part in a psychology study. We think it's really important to think outside the box about how we engage people with science. Meeting people where they already are, and making research part of a fun day out, is such a valuable way to grow the pool of people who want to get involved in scientific discovery.
Dr Sophie Milward , Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology
The team is also looking for inquisitive children to join their Little Scientist database, a fun and friendly way for families to get involved in real research that helps scientists understand how children think, learn, and grow.
From working out how kids solve tricky puzzles to seeing how they team up with others to crack a challenge, University researchers design activities that feel like play - but reveal fascinating insights into the developing mind.
