A developmental investigation of other‐race contact and the own‐race face effect

Research over the past two decades has demonstrated that individuals are better at recognizing and discriminating faces of their own race versus other races. The own‐race effect has typically been investigated in relation to recognition memory; however, some evidence supports an own‐race effect at the level of perceptual encoding in adults. The current study investigated the developmental basis of the own‐race effect in White primary students (aged 7–11), secondary students (aged 12–15) and university students. Face stimuli were generated by morphing South Asian and White parent faces together along a linear continuum. In a same/different perceptual discrimination task, participants judged whether the face stimuli (morphs and parent faces) were physically identical to or different from the original parent faces. Results revealed a significant race of face effect for each age group, whereby participants were better at discriminating White relative to Asian faces. A significantly larger own‐race effect was observed for the secondary and university students than for primary students. A questionnaire was used to assess other‐race social anxiety and contact; however, this self‐report measure was not found to be related to the observed own‐race effect.     

The own‐age face recognition bias is task dependent

The own‐age bias (OAB) in face recognition (more accurate recognition of own‐age than other‐age faces) is robust among young adults but not older adults. We investigated the OAB under two different task conditions. In Experiment 1 young and older adults (who reported more recent experience with own than other‐age faces) completed a match‐to‐sample task with young and older adult faces; only young adults showed an OAB. In Experiment 2 young and older adults completed an identity detection task in which we manipulated the identity strength of target and distracter identities by morphing each face with an average face in 20% steps. Accuracy increased with identity strength and facial age influenced older adults' (but not younger adults') strategy, but there was no evidence of an OAB. Collectively, these results suggest that the OAB depends on task demands and may be absent when searching for one identity.     

The influence of social factors and implicit racial bias on a generalized own‐race effect

The current study sought to determine whether the experimentally reported ‘own‐race effect’ is other‐race specific, or whether it is a generalized effect. The perceptual processing of own‐ versus two groups of other‐race faces was therefore explored in White and South Asian individuals. Participants completed a computer‐based discrimination task of White, South Asian and Black face‐morphs. Results showed a generalized own‐race effect for White and South Asian participants discriminating own‐ versus other‐race (White/South Asian and Black) faces, such that individuals demonstrated a perceptual discrimination advantage for own‐ versus other‐race faces in general. These findings were linked to implicit racial bias and other‐race individuating experience, demonstrating that social variables play an important role in the magnitude of the own‐race effect. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biracial and monoracial infant own‐race face perception: an eye tracking study

We know that early experience plays a crucial role in the development of face processing, but we know little about how infants learn to distinguish faces from different races, especially for non‐Caucasian populations. Moreover, it is unknown whether differential processing of different race faces observed in typically studied monoracial infants extends to biracial infants as well. Thus, we investigated 3‐month‐old Caucasian, Asian and biracial (Caucasian‐Asian) infants’ ability to distinguish Caucasian and Asian faces. Infants completed two within‐subject, infant‐controlled habituation sequences and test trials as an eye tracker recorded looking times and scanning patterns. Examination of individual differences revealed significant positive correlations between own‐race novelty preference and scanning frequency between eye and mouth regions of own‐race habituation stimuli for Caucasian and Asian infants, suggesting that facility in own‐race face discrimination stems from active inspection of internal facial features in these groups. Biracial infants, however, showed the opposite effect: An ‘own‐race’ novelty preference was associated with reduced scanning between eye and mouth regions of ‘own‐race’ habituation stimuli, suggesting that biracial infants use a distinct approach to processing frequently encountered faces. Future directions for investigating face processing development in biracial populations are discussed. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://youtu.be/a_dDXfFuEfY     

Social categorization and individuation in the own‐age bias

Young adults recognize other young adult faces more accurately than older adult faces, an effect termed the own‐age bias (OAB). The categorization‐individuation model (CIM) proposes that recognition memory biases like the OAB occur as unfamiliar faces are initially quickly categorized. In‐group faces are seen as socially relevant which motivates the processing of individuating facial features. Outgroup faces are processed more superficially with attention to category‐specific information which hinders subsequent recognition. To examine the roles of categorization and individuation in the context of the OAB, participants completed a face recognition task and a speeded age categorization task including young and older adult faces. In the recognition task, half of the participants were given instructions aimed to encourage individuation of other‐age faces. An OAB emerged that was not influenced by individuation instructions, but the magnitude of the OAB was correlated with performance in the categorization task. The larger the categorization advantage for older adult over young adult faces, the larger the OAB. These results support the premise that social categorization processes can affect the subsequent recognition of own‐ and other‐age faces, but do not provide evidence for the effectiveness of individuation instructions in reducing the OAB.     

Assumed race moderates spontaneous racial bias in a computer‐based police simulation

We demonstrated that playing the roles of different outgroup races can elicit extrapersonal racial bias associated with respective racial groups. In a modified version of a computer‐based police simulation, the police officer's race was visually manipulated to be either Black or White. Korean participants made quick decisions whether to shoot targets (Black or White, armed or unarmed) on screen. Comparison of behavioral bias in the task revealed that, as expected, playing the role of a White police officer was associated with a stronger bias against Black targets compared to playing a Black police officer's role. The result suggests that when a social category is activated, one's race‐related behavior can reflect one's beliefs about the biases that members of that category hold.     

Memory for own‐ and other‐race faces: a dual‐process approach

The current studies assessed the phenomenological basis of the cross‐race effect by examining predictions of various social‐cognitive mechanisms within a dual‐process framework for both the perception (Experiment 1) and recognition (Experiment 2) of own‐ and other‐race faces. Taken together, the current studies demonstrated that differential performance on own‐race faces was largely due to qualitative differences in the encoding of facial information represented by a recollection process. Furthermore, false recollections with high ratings of confidence occurred more often when participants encoded and responded to unfamiliar other‐race faces. The theoretical implications of these findings for the phenomenology of skilled perceptual‐memory are discussed, and the applied consequences of the cross‐race effect as an encoding‐based phenomenon are considered. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A perceptual discrimination investigation of the own‐race effect and intergroup experience

Research over the past two decades has demonstrated that individuals are better at the recognition and discrimination of own‐ versus other‐race faces. Recent evidence, however, supports an own‐race effect at the level of perceptual encoding in adults. The current study examines the perceptual basis of the own‐race effect in secondary students from two racially segregated communities (White and South Asian). The contact hypothesis is investigated, as other‐race experience may influence other‐race face perception. Face stimuli were generated by morphing together South Asian and White faces along a linear continuum. In a same/different perceptual discrimination task participants judged whether face stimuli were physically identical to, or different from, the original faces. Results revealed a significant own‐race effect for the White participants only, wherein they were better at discriminating White relative to South Asian faces. Other‐race individuating experience was found to predict the own‐race effect, indicating that other‐race experience influences other‐race face perceptual expertise. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contact,configural coding and the other‐race effect in face recognition

The other‐race effect (ORE) in face recognition describes a well‐established finding of better recognition for own‐race than other‐race faces. Although widely thought to reflect differences in contact between own‐ and other‐race faces, little is known about how different contact levels relate to changes in processing of those faces. This study investigated how contact affects the size of the ORE and the use of expert configural face‐coding mechanisms. Using inversion decrements as an index of configural coding, we predicted that increased self‐reported contact would be associated with greater use of configural‐coding mechanisms. Chinese and Caucasian participants varying in contact with other‐race faces were recruited. The Chinese participants also varied in their length of residence in a Western country. Results showed that higher levels of contact were associated with a reduction in the ORE in both face recognition and configural coding. Importantly, smaller cross‐race differences in configural coding were also associated with a smaller ORE in face recognition.     

Brain activation during upright and inverted encoding of own‐ and other‐age faces: ERP evidence for an own‐age bias

We investigated the neural processing underlying own‐age versus other‐age faces among 5‐year‐old children and adults, as well as the effect of orientation on face processing. Upright and inverted faces of 5‐year‐old children, adults, and elderly adults (> 75 years of age) were presented to participants while ERPs and eye tracking patterns were recorded concurrently. We found evidence for an own‐age bias in children, as well as for predicted delayed latencies and larger amplitudes for inverted faces, which replicates earlier findings. Finally, we extend recent reports about an expert‐sensitive component (P2) to other‐race faces to account for similar effects in regard to other‐age faces. We conclude that differences in neural activity are strongly related to the amount and quality of experience that participants have with faces of various ages. Effects of orientation are discussed in relation to the holistic hypothesis and recent data that compromise this view.     

Older but not younger infants associate own‐race faces with happy music and other‐race faces with sad music

We used a novel intermodal association task to examine whether infants associate own‐ and other‐race faces with music of different emotional valences. Three‐ to 9‐month‐olds saw a series of neutral own‐ or other‐race faces paired with happy or sad musical excerpts. Three‐ to 6‐month‐olds did not show any specific association between face race and music. At 9 months, however, infants looked longer at own‐race faces paired with happy music than at own‐race faces paired with sad music. Nine‐month‐olds also looked longer at other‐race faces paired with sad music than at other‐race faces paired with happy music. These results indicate that infants with nearly exclusive own‐race face experience develop associations between face race and music emotional valence in the first year of life. The potential implications of such associations for developing racial biases in early childhood are discussed.     

Face recognition algorithms and the other‐race effect: computational mechanisms for a developmental contact hypothesis

People recognize faces of their own race more accurately than faces of other races. The “contact” hypothesis suggests that this “other‐race effect” occurs as a result of the greater experience we have with own‐ versus other‐race faces. The computational mechanisms that may underlie different versions of the contact hypothesis were explored in this study. We replicated the other‐race effect with human participants and evaluated four classes of computational face recognition algorithms for the presence of an other‐race effect. Consistent with the predictions of a developmental contact hypothesis, “experience‐based models” demonstrated an other‐race effect only when the representational system was developed through experience that warped the perceptual space in a way that was sensitive to the overall structure of the model's experience with faces of different races. When the model's representation relied on a feature set optimized to encode the information in the learned faces, experience‐based algorithms recognized minority‐race faces more accurately than majority‐race faces. The results suggest a developmental learning process that warps the perceptual space to enhance the encoding of distinctions relevant for own‐race faces. This feature space limits the quality of face representations for other‐race faces.     

An own-age bias in face recognition for children and older adults

In the present study, we examined whether children and older adults exhibit an own-age face recognition bias. Participants studied photographs of children, younger adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults and were administered a recognition test. Results showed that both children and older adults more accurately recognized own-age faces than other-age faces. These data suggest that individuals may acquire expertise for identifying faces from their own age group and are discussed in terms of Sporer’s (2001) in-group/out-group model of face recognition.     

The own-age face recognition bias in children and adults

Children recognize children's faces more accurately than adult faces, and adults recognize adult faces more accurately than children's faces (e.g., Anastasi & Rhodes, 2005). This is the own-age bias. Research has shown that this bias is at least partially based on experience since trainee teachers show less of an own-age bias than do other adults (Harrison & Hole, 2009). The present research tested the own-age bias in three groups of children (age 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 years) and a group of adults in the recognition of three age groups of faces (age 7-9, 20-22, and 65-90 years). Results showed an own-age bias for 7- to 9-year-old children and adults. Specifically, children could recognize faces more accurately if they were less than two years different from their own age than if they were more than two years older or younger. These results are discussed in terms of short-term experience with faces creating biases, and this rapidly changes with age.     

The own-age face recognition bias in children and adults

Children recognize children's faces more accurately than adult faces, and adults recognize adult faces more accurately than children's faces (e.g., Anastasi & Rhodes, 2005 Anastasi, J. S. and Rhodes, M. G. 2005. An own-age bias in face recognition for children and older adults. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12: 1043–1047. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This is the own-age bias. Research has shown that this bias is at least partially based on experience since trainee teachers show less of an own-age bias than do other adults (Harrison & Hole, 2009 Harrison, V. and Hole, G. J. 2009. Evidence for a contact-based explanation of the own-age bias in face recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16: 264–269. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The present research tested the own-age bias in three groups of children (age 4–6, 7–9, 10–12 years) and a group of adults in the recognition of three age groups of faces (age 7–9, 20–22, and 65–90 years). Results showed an own-age bias for 7- to 9-year-old children and adults. Specifically, children could recognize faces more accurately if they were less than two years different from their own age than if they were more than two years older or younger. These results are discussed in terms of short-term experience with faces creating biases, and this rapidly changes with age.     

Evidence for a contact-based explanation of the own-age bias in face recognition

Previous research has shown that we recognize faces similar in age to ourselves better than older or younger faces (e.g., Wright & Stroud, 2002). This study investigated whether this own-age bias could be explained by the contact hypothesis used to account for the own-race bias (see Meissner & Brigham, 2001). If the own-age bias stems from increased exposure to people of our own age, it should be reduced or absent in those with higher exposure to other age groups. Participants were asked to remember facial photographs of 8- to 11- and 20- to 25-year-olds. Undergraduates were faster and more accurate at recognizing faces of their own age. However, trainee teachers showed no such own-age bias; they recognized the children’s faces more quickly than own-age faces and with comparable accuracy. These results support a contact-based explanation of the own-age bias.     

Determinants of support for social integration in South Africa: The roles of race relations,social distrust,and racial identification

South Africa is divided along race lines and this has made social integration difficult to achieve in the nation. The aspiration for the rainbow nation since the end of apartheid has been a country united in its diversity. Research evidence shows that interracial trust and interaction are still very low in the nation. This study set out to examine the determinants of support for social integration in South Africa. The variables of perceived improvement in race relations, social distrust, and racial identification were examined. Data were sourced from the South African Social Attitudes Survey 2017. Participants were 2,946 men (38.9%) and women (61.1%) with the age range of 16 to 99 years. Data analysis showed that perceived improvement in race relations, social distrust, and racial identification were all associated with increased support for social integration. However, a low level of social distrust provides the best outcome for support for social integration. Equally, identifying with one's racial group is likely to be beneficial for increasing social contact between groups. Findings were discussed based on the peculiarity of South African society and existing literature. The implication of the findings for policies and programmes to facilitate social contact and social cohesion was emphasised. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement .     

Reducing the own-race bias in face recognition by shifting attention

The own-race bias (ORB) in face recognition can be interpreted as a failure to generalize expert perceptual encoding developed for own-race faces to other-race faces. Further, black participants appear to use different features to describe faces from those used by white participants (Shepherd & Deregowski, 1981). An experiment is reported where the size of the ORB was assessed using a standard face recognition procedure. Four groups were tested at two time intervals. One group received a training regime involving learning to distinguish faces that varied only on their chin, cheeks, nose, and mouth. Three control groups did not receive this training. The ORB, present prior to training, was reduced after the critical perceptual training. It is concluded that the ORB is a consequence of a failure of attention being directed to those features of other race faces that are useful for identification.