Recognition and context memory for faces from own and other ethnic groups: a remember-know investigation
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm
Published on: December 24, 2015
Ruth Horry1, Daniel B Wright, Colin G Tredoux
1University of Sussex, Brighton, England. ruth.horry@rhul.ac.uk
Abstract:
People are more accurate at recognizing faces from their own ethnic group than at recognizing faces from other ethnic groups. This other-ethnicity effect (OEE) in recognition may be produced by a deficit in recollective memory for other-ethnicity faces. In a single study, White and Black participants saw White and Black faces presented within several different visual contexts. The participants were then given an old/new recognition task. Old responses were followed by remember-know-guess judgments and context judgments. Own-ethnicity faces were recognized more accurately, were given more remember responses, and produced more accurate context judgments than did other-ethnicity faces. These results are discussed in a dual-process framework, and implications for eyewitness memory are considered.
Related Concept Videos
Prosopagnosia
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Association Areas of the Cortex
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function like a...
Surveys

