Other Race Effect

The ability to recognize faces is an essential component of social interaction. Its importance is highlighted by evidence that face recognition involves different neural correlates than object recognition. Studies have found that individuals with damage to the occipito-temporal area often suffer from prosopagnosia, which is the inability to recognize faces. Despite this, these individuals are often unimpaired in object recognition, suggesting that the ability relies on different neural mechanisms (Demasio et al. 1982). This area of the brain that is selectively activated during face process is located in the fusiform gyrus, and it is widely accepted that a segment of the fusiform gyrus, called the fusiform face area, is critically implicated in face processing.

This has become known as the “other-race effect.” A possible explanation for this phenomenon may be that individuals are more frequently in contact with members of their own race, and are consequently better at recognizing faces that look similar to their own. In an analysis of the other-race effect, Meissner and Brigham (2001) found that the amount of interracial contact one impacted this effect, suggesting that the amount contact one has with a certain ethnic group leads to greater recognition. Outside of race, studies have shown that people show a similar effect for faces of a similar age to oneself (Valentine and Endo, 1992). In both experiments of race and age, recognition memory is greater for the “in-group” compared to “out-group” faces, implicating a potential bias towards people similar to