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Visual Examination of Own- and Other-race Face Identities And Implicit Racial Bias
Gizelle Anzures1,2,3, Melissa Mildort1, Cassandra Bell1
1Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431 USA.
Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.)
|April 23, 2026
Summary
Implicit racial bias did not affect how people viewed other-race faces. However, stronger bias meant more time looking at internal features of own-race faces during recognition tasks.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Implicit racial bias influences social perception and behavior.
- Own-race bias is a well-documented phenomenon in face recognition.
- Eye tracking offers insights into visual attention during face processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of implicit racial bias on visual attention and recognition of own- and other-race faces.
- To determine if implicit bias affects gaze patterns towards specific facial features.
- To explore the relationship between implicit bias and the own-race advantage in face recognition.
Main Methods:
- Utilized eye tracking technology to record participants' gaze behavior.
- Employed an old/new identity recognition task involving own- and other-race faces.
- Measured implicit racial bias using a validated psychometric tool.
Main Results:
- No significant association between implicit bias and time spent viewing other-race face features.
- Greater implicit bias correlated with increased dwell time on internal features of own-race faces.
- An own-race advantage in face recognition was observed irrespective of implicit bias levels.
Conclusions:
- Implicit racial bias does not alter visual exploration of other-race faces.
- Bias influences attention allocation towards own-race faces during recognition.
- The own-race advantage in recognition persists despite individual differences in implicit bias.
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