The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination Process

Other-race-effect (ORE) refers to the observation that we can recognize own-race faces better than other-race faces (Meissner & Brigham, 2001). Yet, whether featural or configural face processing might contribute to other-race effect is still unclear. In the present study, we tested Taiwanese ad...

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Main Authors: Jing-Fong Wang, Sarina Hui-Lin Chien, Hsin-Yueh Hsu, Chen-Ni Chiu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2011-05-01
Series:i-Perception
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1068/ic239
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author Jing-Fong Wang
Sarina Hui-Lin Chien
Hsin-Yueh Hsu
Chen-Ni Chiu
author_facet Jing-Fong Wang
Sarina Hui-Lin Chien
Hsin-Yueh Hsu
Chen-Ni Chiu
author_sort Jing-Fong Wang
collection DOAJ
description Other-race-effect (ORE) refers to the observation that we can recognize own-race faces better than other-race faces (Meissner & Brigham, 2001). Yet, whether featural or configural face processing might contribute to other-race effect is still unclear. In the present study, we tested Taiwanese adults with faces of four ethnic groups (Taiwanese, Philippine, Caucasian, African) and each with four levels of discriminability: Easy (change configuration and component: change identity), Medium (change component: change eyes), Hard-I (change configuration: widen eye spacing), and Hard-II (change configuration: mouth moved up). We adopted the visual paired-comparison task with two-alternative-forced-choice (2AFC) procedure. The overall results showed that accuracy decreased and response time increased as the stimulus difficulty increased for each race. The accuracy was highest and the response time was lowest for the Taiwanese easy condition, which suggests an own-race advantage. In addition, the pattern of response time for Philippine faces was similar to that of Taiwanese faces and was shorter than Caucasian faces in the medium and Hard-I conditions. In conclusion, our study had two main findings. First, Philippine faces were seen as more like own-race faces rather than other-race faces. Second, both featural and configural face processing contribute to the other-race-effect.
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spelling doaj.art-0ab265e981d247d1b96553011d49d3f32022-12-22T01:22:25ZengSAGE Publishingi-Perception2041-66952011-05-01210.1068/ic23910.1068_ic239The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination ProcessJing-Fong Wang0Sarina Hui-Lin Chien1Hsin-Yueh Hsu2Chen-Ni Chiu3Graduate Institute of Neural and Cognitive Sciences, China Medical UniversityGraduate Institute of Neural and Cognitive Sciences, China Medical UniversityGraduate Institute of Neural and Cognitive Sciences, China Medical UniversityGraduate Institute of Neural and Cognitive Sciences, China Medical UniversityOther-race-effect (ORE) refers to the observation that we can recognize own-race faces better than other-race faces (Meissner & Brigham, 2001). Yet, whether featural or configural face processing might contribute to other-race effect is still unclear. In the present study, we tested Taiwanese adults with faces of four ethnic groups (Taiwanese, Philippine, Caucasian, African) and each with four levels of discriminability: Easy (change configuration and component: change identity), Medium (change component: change eyes), Hard-I (change configuration: widen eye spacing), and Hard-II (change configuration: mouth moved up). We adopted the visual paired-comparison task with two-alternative-forced-choice (2AFC) procedure. The overall results showed that accuracy decreased and response time increased as the stimulus difficulty increased for each race. The accuracy was highest and the response time was lowest for the Taiwanese easy condition, which suggests an own-race advantage. In addition, the pattern of response time for Philippine faces was similar to that of Taiwanese faces and was shorter than Caucasian faces in the medium and Hard-I conditions. In conclusion, our study had two main findings. First, Philippine faces were seen as more like own-race faces rather than other-race faces. Second, both featural and configural face processing contribute to the other-race-effect.https://doi.org/10.1068/ic239
spellingShingle Jing-Fong Wang
Sarina Hui-Lin Chien
Hsin-Yueh Hsu
Chen-Ni Chiu
The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination Process
i-Perception
title The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination Process
title_full The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination Process
title_fullStr The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination Process
title_full_unstemmed The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination Process
title_short The Near-Race and Other-Race Effect in Taiwanese Adults: Exploring the Featural versus Configural Face Discrimination Process
title_sort near race and other race effect in taiwanese adults exploring the featural versus configural face discrimination process
url https://doi.org/10.1068/ic239
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