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Contextual Effects in Face Lightness Perception Are Not Expertise-Dependent
Dorita H F Chang1,2, Yin Yan Cheang1, May So1
1Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Vision (Basel, Switzerland)
|November 19, 2019
Summary
Face lightness perception is influenced by race context, but this effect is similar across different racial groups. Expertise did not significantly alter these contextual influences on lightness judgments.
Area of Science:
- Visual perception
- Social cognition
- Psychophysics
Background:
- Lightness judgments of faces are known to be influenced by contextual factors, including race.
- The 'other-race effect' describes how individuals are less accurate at recognizing faces of different races.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if expertise modulates contextual effects in face lightness perception.
- To determine if the other-race effect influences lightness judgments based on race.
Main Methods:
- A lightness-matching paradigm was employed with Chinese and White observers.
- Participants adjusted a variable face's lightness to match a standard face.
- The race of the standard and variable faces was systematically varied (same vs. different race).
Main Results:
- Both observer groups showed the smallest matching errors when faces were of the same race.
- Matching errors were largest (negative) when the reference face was Black, irrespective of observer race.
- Errors for Chinese and White reference faces were near zero or positive, with no significant difference between observer groups.
Conclusions:
- Contextual influences on face lightness perception are not driven by classical face perception mechanisms.
- These effects may arise from an interaction between race-based assumptions and surface reflectance computations.
- Expertise, as related to the other-race effect, does not appear to modulate race-based contextual influences in lightness perception.
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