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British Journal of Psychology (London,... May 2023Although different human races do not exist from the perspective of biology and genetics, ascribed 'race' influences psychological processing, such as memory and...
Although different human races do not exist from the perspective of biology and genetics, ascribed 'race' influences psychological processing, such as memory and perception of faces. Research from this Special Issue, as well as a wealth of previous research, shows that other-'race' faces are more difficult to recognize compared to own-'race' faces, a phenomenon known as the other-'race' effect. Theories of expertise attribute the cause of the other-'race' effect to less efficient visual representations of other-'race' faces, which results from reduced visual expertise with other-'race' faces compared to own-'race' faces due to limited contact with individuals from other 'racial' groups. By contrast, social-cognitive accounts attribute the cause of the other-'race' effect to reduced motivation to individuate other-'race' faces compared to own-'race' faces. Evidence for both types of theories is still mixed, but progress in understanding the phenomenon has also been hampered by the fact that there has been little crosstalk between these accounts, which tend to be rooted in separate domains of experimental perception science and social psychology, respectively. To promote an integrative perspective on current knowledge on own- versus other-'race' face processing, the present Special Issue bridges different psychological subdisciplines, showcasing research using a large variety of methodological approaches and measures. In this guest editorial, we briefly highlight individual contributions to this Special Issue and offer what we see as important avenues for future research on the other-'race' effect.
Topics: Humans; Racial Groups; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Facial Recognition
PubMed: 36583346
DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12615 -
Social Neuroscience 2015Recent studies on empathy toward other-race individuals demonstrate a preferential neural response to own-race members' pain. Based on the observation that existing... (Review)
Review
Recent studies on empathy toward other-race individuals demonstrate a preferential neural response to own-race members' pain. Based on the observation that existing studies, using different techniques, did not provide a convergent scenario on how implicit racial prejudice relate to empathy in cross-racial contexts, in the current commentary we claim that future efforts in this domain should distinguish between processes of racial prejudice and racial stereotypes. These concepts have been differentiated in social psychology, and two independent measures have been provided to assess them. We propose that these aspects should be taken into further consideration in future studies to fully understand the social neuroscience of empathy in cross-racial contexts.
Topics: Empathy; Humans; Pain; Racial Groups
PubMed: 25180692
DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2014.954731 -
Other-race faces are given more weight than own-race faces when assessing the composition of crowds.Vision Research Apr 2019In two experiments we examined the performance of Asian and Caucasian participants as they were asked to estimate the ethnic composition of arrays of 16 concurrently...
In two experiments we examined the performance of Asian and Caucasian participants as they were asked to estimate the ethnic composition of arrays of 16 concurrently presented faces. Across trials we systematically varied the physical proportion of Asian and Caucasian faces presented in the arrays using the method of constant stimuli. The task was to explicitly indicate which group was in the majority. The position of the 16 faces within the array were continuously shuffled using a 4 × 4 moving grid to block explicit enumeration. Measures of bias and sensitivity were estimated by fitting cumulative normal distributions to individual response data. Consistent with recent findings on "ensemble" face processing, all participants were able to make group estimates quite accurately. This was true using both full-colour, non-normalised, headshots (Exp1) and centre-apertured, normalised, grey-scale images (Exp2). However, the main finding was that performance estimates from the two groups of participants did not overlap. Specifically, patterns of bias suggest that other-race faces are weighted more heavily than own-race faces (Exps 1 & 2), while sensitivity is better for groups instructed to decide if the other-race, rather than own-race, is more numerous (Exp 2). To our knowledge, these are the first demonstrations of other-race biases affecting decisions that have to be made about groups of faces.
Topics: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Bias; Facial Recognition; Female; Humans; Male; Racial Groups; Reaction Time; Recognition, Psychology; Young Adult
PubMed: 29555300
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2018.02.008 -
Default categorization of outgroup faces and the other race effect: Commentary on the special issue.British Journal of Psychology (London,... May 2023This commentary addresses how studies examining the neurophysiological correlates of racial categorization can provide insight into the neurocognitive mechanisms of the...
This commentary addresses how studies examining the neurophysiological correlates of racial categorization can provide insight into the neurocognitive mechanisms of the other-race effect in recognition memory. Several articles in the special issue describe how event-related potentials (ERPs) have been used to examine processing of faces that vary according to race, some of which have concluded that larger ERP amplitudes elicited by other-race (relative to own-race) faces indicates less efficient visual processing of other-race faces. I describe findings from ERP studies of race categorization that suggest an alternative interpretation-that other-race faces elicit stronger categorization, which impedes individuation of other-race faces. Suggestions for future research are offered.
Topics: Humans; Racial Groups; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Evoked Potentials; Recognition, Psychology; Visual Perception
PubMed: 37052620
DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12648 -
British Journal of Psychology (London,... May 2023Faces can be categorized along various dimensions including gender or race, an ability developing in infancy. Infant categorization studies have focused on facial... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Faces can be categorized along various dimensions including gender or race, an ability developing in infancy. Infant categorization studies have focused on facial attributes in isolation, but the interaction between these attributes remains poorly understood. Experiment 1 examined gender categorization of other-race faces in 9- and 12-month-old White infants. Nine- and 12-month-olds were familiarized with Asian male or female faces, and tested with a novel exemplar from the familiarized category paired with a novel exemplar from a novel category. Both age groups showed novel category preferences for novel Asian female faces after familiarization with Asian male faces, but showed no novel category preference for novel Asian male faces after familiarization with Asian female faces. This categorization asymmetry was not due to a spontaneous preference hindering novel category reaction (Experiment 2), and both age groups displayed difficulty discriminating among male, but not female, other-race faces (Experiment 3). These results indicate that category formation for male other-race faces is mediated by categorical perception. Overall, the findings suggest that even by 12 months of age, infants are not fully able to form gender category representations of other-race faces, responding categorically to male, but not female, other-race faces.
Topics: Humans; Infant; Male; Asian People; Photic Stimulation; Female; Facial Recognition; Racial Groups; Sex Characteristics; White
PubMed: 35808935
DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12582 -
British Journal of Psychology (London,... May 2023Multiple factors have been proposed to contribute to the other-race effect in face recognition, including perceptual expertise and social-cognitive accounts. Here, we...
Multiple factors have been proposed to contribute to the other-race effect in face recognition, including perceptual expertise and social-cognitive accounts. Here, we propose to understand the effect and its contributing factors from the perspectives of learning mechanisms that involve joint learning of visual attention strategies and internal representations for faces, which can be modulated by quality of contact with other-race individuals including emotional and motivational factors. Computational simulations of this process will enhance our understanding of interactions among factors and help resolve inconsistent results in the literature. In particular, since learning is driven by task demands, visual attention effects observed in different face-processing tasks, such as passive viewing or recognition, are likely to be task specific (although may be associated) and should be examined and compared separately. When examining visual attention strategies, the use of more data-driven and comprehensive eye movement measures, taking both spatial-temporal pattern and consistency of eye movements into account, can lead to novel discoveries in other-race face processing. The proposed framework and analysis methods may be applied to other tasks of real-life significance such as face emotion recognition, further enhancing our understanding of the relationship between learning and visual cognition.
Topics: Humans; Racial Groups; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Learning; Recognition, Psychology; Eye Movements
PubMed: 36951761
DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12647 -
Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and... 2021Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, inflammatory disease affecting approximately 1% of the global population. While age- and sex-specific prevalence of HS is... (Review)
Review
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, inflammatory disease affecting approximately 1% of the global population. While age- and sex-specific prevalence of HS is well documented in literature, few studies have explored trends in racial predilections for HS. The objective of this study is to investigate the race-specific prevalence of HS. MEDLINE and EMBASE searches were conducted in the OVID database. Keywords included variations of "race," "ethnicity," "country," "prevalence," and "Hidradenitis suppurativa." Studies were included if they were written in English or French, conducted on human participants, and had data on HS and race-specific prevalence. Meta-analyses, systematic and literature reviews, and irrelevant articles were excluded. Thirty-nine out of 184 articles met the inclusion criteria after abstract and full-text screening. Population distribution was scaled according to country-specific demographics reports. These demographic reports were extracted from each country's national statistics report. The average HS prevalence rates were highest in African American populations (1.3%), lowest in Hispanics/Latinos (0.07%), and intermediate amongst Caucasian populations (0.75%). Total prevalence in all other ethnic groups (0.17%) was minor in comparison to African American and Caucasian populations. Since the highest rates of HS were found among African American population, literature has highlighted the possibility of a genetic etiology in HS development. However, further literature examining race-specific prevalence of HS internationally is required to accurately assess the frequency and underlying etiology of HS among varying racial populations.
Topics: Hidradenitis Suppurativa; Humans; Prevalence; Racial Groups
PubMed: 33174482
DOI: 10.1177/1203475420972348 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Nov 2017The well-known other-race effect in face recognition has been widely studied, both for its theoretical insights into the nature of face expertise and because of its... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
The well-known other-race effect in face recognition has been widely studied, both for its theoretical insights into the nature of face expertise and because of its social and forensic importance. Here we demonstrate an other-race effect for the perception of a simple visual signal provided by the eyes, namely gaze direction. In Study 1, Caucasian and Asian participants living in Australia both showed greater perceptual sensitivity to detect direct gaze in own-race than other-race faces. In Study 2, Asian (Chinese) participants living in Australia and Asian (Chinese) participants living in Hong Kong both showed this other-race effect, but Caucasian participants did not. Despite this inconsistency, meta-analysis revealed a significant other-race effect when results for all 5 participant groups from corresponding conditions in the 2 studies were combined. These results demonstrate a new other-race effect for the perception of the simple, but socially potent, cue of direct gaze. When identical morphed-race eyes were inserted into the faces, removing race-specific eye cues, no other-race effect was found (with 1 exception). Thus, the balance of evidence implicated perceptual expertise, rather than social motivation, in the other-race effect for detecting direct gaze. (PsycINFO Database Record
Topics: Adult; Asian People; Australia; Facial Recognition; Female; Fixation, Ocular; Hong Kong; Humans; Male; Racial Groups; Social Perception; White People; Young Adult
PubMed: 29072482
DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000460 -
British Journal of Psychology (London,... May 2023People are better at recognizing faces from their own racial or ethnic group compared with faces from other racial or ethnic groups, known as the other-'race' effect...
People are better at recognizing faces from their own racial or ethnic group compared with faces from other racial or ethnic groups, known as the other-'race' effect (ORE). Several theories of the ORE assume that memory for other-race faces is impaired because people have less contact with members of other racial or ethnic groups, resulting in lower visual expertise. The present research investigates contact theories of the ORE, using self-report contact measures and objective measures of potential outgroup exposure (estimated from participants' residential location and from GPS tracking). Across six studies (total N = 2660), we observed that White American and White German participants displayed better memory for White faces compared with Black or Middle Eastern faces, whereas Black American participants displayed similarly equal or better memory for White compared with Black faces. We did not observe any relations between the ORE and objective measures of potential outgroup exposure. Only in Studies 2a and 2b, we observed very small correlations (rs = -.08 to .06) between 4 out of 30 contact measures and the ORE. We discuss methodological limitations and implications for theories of the ORE.
Topics: Humans; Racial Groups; Self Report; Face; White
PubMed: 36229411
DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12600 -
Neuropsychologia Nov 2019Exposure to varying images of the same person can encourage the formation of a representation that is sufficiently robust to allow recognition of previously unseen...
Exposure to varying images of the same person can encourage the formation of a representation that is sufficiently robust to allow recognition of previously unseen images of this person. While behavioural work suggests that face identity learning is harder for other-race faces, the present experiment investigated the neural correlates underlying own- and other-race face learning. Participants sorted own- and other-race identities into separate identity clusters and were further familiarised with these identities in a matching task. Subsequently, we compared event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in an implicit recognition (butterfly detection) task for learnt and previously unseen identities. We observed better sorting and matching for own- than other-race identities, and behavioural learning effects were restricted to own-race identities. Similarly, the N170 ERP component showed clear learning effects for own-race faces only. The N250, a component more closely associated with face learning was more negative for learnt than novel identities. ERP findings thus suggests a processing advantage for own-race identities at an early perceptual level whereas later correlates of identity learning were unaffected by ethnicity. These results suggest learning advantages for own-race identities, which underscores the importance of perceptual expertise in the own-race bias.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials; Face; Female; Functional Laterality; Humans; Learning; Male; Photic Stimulation; Racial Groups; Recognition, Psychology; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult
PubMed: 31580879
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107218