The other-race effect in face perception and recognition: contributions of social categorisation and processing strategy

Abstract

The other-race effect refers to the impoverished individuation and recognition of other-race faces relative to own-race faces. The aim of this thesis was to investigate non-racial ingroup/outgroup categorisation, inter-/intra-racial context, and encoding conditions as signalling cues that affect own- and other-race face processing. Across eight experiments using both behavioural and neuroimaging methods, I demonstrated (1) that the context in which own- and other-race faces are encountered can determine the salience of racial category membership, with implications for how (and how much) non-racial ingroup/outgroup status influences own- and other-race face perception, (2) that task demands can lead perceivers toward more or less configural processing regardless of target ingroup/outgroup status, with implications for the influence of non-racial ingroup/outgroup status, and (3) that both racial and non-racial ingroup/outgroup status have the potential to influence the early stages of face perception. These findings both support and extend the Categorisation–Individuation Model, yielding a more comprehensive insight into the other-race effect.