A Preliminary Study to Evaluate Graphical Passwords for Older Adults

Abstract

Picture-based authentication offers visual cues (e.g. images) that helps users recalling their passwords. Human facial images were utilized in making graphical passwords, as humans are better at remembering human faces than other types of images. Prior research found that users performed better with the partitioned facial images than with the full-face portrait images; nevertheless, age-related differences were not considered. This present research is a preliminary study to assess older adults' understanding toward Passface and overall experimental procedure, by examining two levels of facial image presentation: full-face portrait image, and partitioned facial image. The results showed that the partitioned facial image aided memory and recall better than the full-face portrait image, which was reflected by registration time, authentication time and success rate. In general, majority of older adults were able to understand Passface and overall experimental procedure.