The other-race effect and holistic processing across racial groups

Abstract

It is widely accepted that holistic processing is important for face perception. However, it remains unclear whether the other-race effect (ORE) (i.e. superior recognition for own-race faces) arises from reduced holistic processing of other-race faces. To address this issue, we adopted a cross-cultural design where Malaysian Chinese, African, European Caucasian and Australian Caucasian participants performed four different tasks: (1) yes-no face recognition, (2) composite, (3) whole-part and (4) global-local tasks. Each face task was completed with unfamiliar own- and other-race faces. Results showed a pronounced ORE in the face recognition task. Both composite-face and whole-part effects were found; however, these holistic effects did not appear to be stronger for other-race faces than for own-race faces. In the global-local task, Malaysian Chinese and African participants demonstrated a stronger global processing bias compared to both European- and Australian-Caucasian participants. Importantly, we found little or no cross-task correlation between any of the holistic processing measures and face recognition ability. Overall, our findings cast doubt on the prevailing account that the ORE in face recognition is due to reduced holistic processing in other-race faces. Further studies should adopt an interactionist approach taking into account cultural, motivational, and socio-cognitive factors.

Figure 1

Examples of the three races of faces (i.e. Chinese, African and Caucasian faces) used in the face tasks. Each race pair shows a female (left) and a male (right) face. The individuals depicted in this figure signed a written informed consent to the publication of their facial images.

Figure 2

Experimental procedure for the learning and recognition stages in the yes–no recognition task.

Figure 3

Example of the stimuli of three different races used in the whole-part task. The whole-part effect (WPE) relies on the assumption that it is much easier to identify the eyes (A), nose (B), or mouth (C) of the target face when the features are shown in the context of the whole face than when they are shown in isolation.

Figure 4

(a) Examples of the experimental design and (b) a sample of a ‘different’ trial used in composite-face task. The participants’ task was to match the sequentially presented top halves while ignoring the bottom halves.

Figure 5

Example of Navon stimuli for global–local task.

Figure 6

d’′ scores for the yes–no face recognition test of own- and other-race faces in Malaysian-Chinese, Australian-Caucasian, African, and European-Caucasian participants. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean (**p < 0.01; *p < 0.05).

Figure 7

The magnitudes of the whole-part effect (WPE) for own- and other-race faces for each ethnic group in whole-part face task. Error bars indicate standard errors of the mean.

Figure 8

The magnitudes of the composite face effect (CFE) for own- and other-race faces for each ethnic group in composite face task. The CFE was calculated by subtracting congruency effect observed in misaligned condition from that observed in aligned condition (i.e., the alignment by congruency interaction). Error bars indicate ± 1 standard error of the mean.

Figure 9

The magnitude of global–local interference (GLI) as a function of participant group. Error bars indicate standard errors of the mean. Asterisks indicate significant differences between race groups (**p < 0.01; *p < 0.05).