Globally famous, locally recognized: Cross‐cultural validation of the use of Famous Faces Test in Croatia

Familiar-face tests are crucial to understanding face processing abilities but are culturally brittle. We investigated whether the Famous Faces Test (FFT) is valid and age-robust in familiar-face recognition in a non-English-speaking context. In two studies, Croatian younger and older adults completed a face recognition battery (FFT, CFMT, PI-20), with potential developmental prosopagnosics reviewed via broader testing (OFMT, GFMT-2). Wide inter-individual variation in FFT did not show group differences in familiarity-controlled accuracy. CFMT scores were comparable across ages, with moderate FFT correlations in both samples. PI-20 showed small negative associations with FFT, indicating limited convergence between self-report and objective performance. In Study/3, potential prosopagnosics performed worse than controls across all measures, with large effect sizes. These findings support culturally adaptable use of FFT for assessing familiar-face recognition. The test is age-appropriate in accuracy, relates meaningfully to unfamiliar-face memory, and, used alongside perception and matching measures, helps identify individuals warranting detailed diagnostic assessment.