Differences between the perception and the recognition of cross-race faces.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Perception

Background:

• The Cross-Race Effect (CRE) describes better recognition of same-race compared to other-race faces.
• The Face Space Model posits denser, less differentiated representations for cross-race faces.
• Previous research explored face space dispersion but rarely linked it directly to recognition and similarity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the Face Space account of the CRE by examining recognition accuracy and perceived facial similarity across racial groups.
• To investigate if denser clustering of cross-race faces in psychological space correlates with poorer recognition.
• To explore potential dissociations between memory and similarity judgments for same- and cross-race faces.

Main Methods:

• Conducted old/new recognition tasks for same- and cross-race faces with Asian, Black, and White participants (Experiments 1A & 1B).
• Assessed perceived facial similarity ratings for the same stimuli to model face space representations (Experiments 2A & 2B).
• Analyzed the relationship between recognition performance, distinctiveness, and perceived similarity.

Main Results:

• Distinctive faces were generally better recognized than less distinctive ones.
• Some results aligned with the Face Space account, showing recognition performance correlated with perceived face clustering by race.
• A dissociation emerged: cross-race faces were less recognized but perceived as equally similar to same-race faces.

Conclusions:

• The Cross-Race Effect may not be solely explained by representational density in Face Space.
• Findings suggest a potential dissociation between cognitive (memory) and perceptual (similarity) processes for same- and cross-race faces.
• Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms underlying the CRE.