Exploration of the Other-Race Recognition Deficit

Abstract

Existing research regarding the Other-Race Bias (ORB), a phenomenon in which faces of the same race are more accurately recognized than of another race, primarily focuses on when the recognition deficit occurs and not why it occurs. The current research was designed to investigate what processing components are responsible for the ORB through the use of a sequential sampling model, the EZ diffusion model. Accuracy and reaction time were jointly considered, in addition to traditional measures of performance, to evaluate recognition decisions made about same race and other race faces. Emotion and face orientation were also manipulated to differentiate what type of processing, configural or featural, is recruited. The results indicated that recognition differences occur because of the quality of information available in memory and not a response bias. Furthermore, the use of configural or featural processing may not be able to explain the differences in processing for SR and OR faces. Research needs to continue to seek explanations of the ORB.