Reducing the other-race effect through caricatures

We recognize faces from our own race better than those from another race. Although the relative contribution of different mechanisms (e.g. contact vs. attention) remains elusive, it is generally agreed that the other-race effect results from the fact that discriminatory facial features are race-dependent. Previous research has also shown that facial recognition improves when viewers are first familiarized with faces whose most distinctive features have been caricaturized. In this study, we sought to determine the extent to which familiarization with caricaturized faces could also be used to reduce otherrace effects. Using an old/new face recognition paradigm, Caucasian subjects were first familiarized with a set of faces from multiple races, and then asked to recognize those faces among a set of confounders. Participants who were familiarized with and then asked to recognize veridical versions of the faces showed a significant otherrace effect on Indian faces. In contrast, participant...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: FGR
• Authors: Jobany Rodriguez, Heather Bortfeld, Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna
• Keywords: Biometrics, FGR 2008, Indian Faces, Other-race Effects, Otherrace Effect