Peter de Lissa1, Katsumi Watanabe2, Li Gu3, Tatsunori Ishii4, Koyo Nakamura5, Taiki Kimura2, Amane Sagasaki2, Roberto Caldara1. 1. University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. 2. Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. 3. School of Innovation Design, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China. 4. Japan Womens' University, Tokyo, Japan; Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. 5. University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan; Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract
People are typically faster to categorize the race of a face if it belongs to a race different from their own. This Other Race Categorization Advantage (ORCA) is thought to reflect an enhanced sensitivity to the visual race signals of other race faces, leading to faster response times. The current study investigated this sensitivity in a cross-cultural sample of Swiss and Japanese observers with a race categorization task using faces that had been parametrically degraded of visual structure, with normalized luminance and contrast. While Swiss observers exhibited an increasingly strong ORCA in both reaction time and accuracy as the face images were visually degraded up to 20% structural coherence, the Japanese observers manifested this pattern most distinctly when the faces were fully structurally-intact. Critically, for both observer groups, there was a clear accuracy effect at the 20% structural coherence level, indicating that the enhanced sensitivity to other race visual signals persists in significantly degraded stimuli. These results suggest that different cultural groups may rely on and extract distinct types of visual race signals during categorization, which may depend on the available visual information. Nevertheless, heavily degraded stimuli specifically favor the perception of other race faces, indicating that the visual system is tuned by experience and is sensitive to the detection of unfamiliar signals.
People are typically faster to categorize the race of a face if it belongs to a race different from their own. This Other Race Categorization Advantage (ORCA) is thought to reflect an enhanced sensitivity to the visual race signals of other race faces, leading to faster response times. The current study investigated this sensitivity in a cross-cultural sample of Swiss and Japanese observers with a race categorization task using faces that had been parametrically degraded of visual structure, with normalized luminance and contrast. While Swiss observers exhibited an increasingly strong ORCA in both reaction time and accuracy as the face images were visually degraded up to 20% structural coherence, the Japanese observers manifested this pattern most distinctly when the faces were fully structurally-intact. Critically, for both observer groups, there was a clear accuracy effect at the 20% structural coherence level, indicating that the enhanced sensitivity to other race visual signals persists in significantly degraded stimuli. These results suggest that different cultural groups may rely on and extract distinct types of visual race signals during categorization, which may depend on the available visual information. Nevertheless, heavily degraded stimuli specifically favor the perception of other race faces, indicating that the visual system is tuned by experience and is sensitive to the detection of unfamiliar signals.
Our faces offer insight into who we are, presenting others with our identity and an idea of
our age, gender, and emotions. Some of these visual properties are more nuanced than others,
requiring greater experience and expertise to recognize. An example of this difference in
the way faces can be processed and categorized can be found when we turn to the realm of how
“race” is perceived in faces. It is common to find that when we lack sufficient experience
with people of races with characteristic physiognomic features different than our owns, we
find it more difficult to identify them. Termed the “Other-Race Effect” (ORE), this
difference in identity recognition is associated with an asymmetry in the number of faces of
differing races we encounter in our lives compared to those of our own race—the less
familiar we are with other-race faces the greater the deficit in identity recognition we
have with such faces (Brigham &
Barkowitz, 1978; Fallshore
& Schooler, 1995; Meissner
& Brigham, 2001; Rhodes et
al., 2009; Valentine &
Endo, 1992). An interesting companion to this effect is that while we are better at
recognizing members of our own (familiar) race, we are actually faster to categorize the
race of a face when it belongs to other (less familiar) race (Caldara et al., 2004; Feng et al., 2011; Ge et al., 2009; Levin, 1996, 2000; Valentine & Endo, 1992; Zhao & Bentin, 2008, 2011). Referred to as the Other Race Categorization
Advantage (ORCA), this effect has been proposed to stem from a difference in the amount and
types of visual information we have encountered and stored through our experiences with
faces throughout our lives. Valentine
(1991), Valentine and Endo
(1992) put forth the multidimensional face-space model to account for both the ORE
and ORCA patterns, positing that the more limited number of other race exemplars
(encountered faces) reflects a reduced space for recognition abilities relative to a more
elaborated same-race exemplar area and that the smaller other race area is also more dense
due to greater visual overlap. This theoretical model has been statistically validated by
neuronal network simulations (Caldara
& Abdi, 2006).Valentine
(1991) suggested that the visual similarity of other-race faces creates both
decreased recognition abilities as well as enhanced race categorization abilities, by
relying on a sensitivity to the visual signals for a race at the expense of the more nuanced
signals used for individuation. Levin
(1996, 2000) further
proposed that race can be seen as a distinct feature of faces that are emphasized in other
race faces by virtue of it being a salient visual aspect used to categorize faces into
social groups. The decreased recognition ability people tend to possess for other race faces
was thus hypothesized to be a consequence of the emphasis placed on race as a feature in
other race faces. Further support for the ORCA to stem from an enhanced sensitivity to the
visual characteristics representing race has been presented in the form of diffusion model
analysis by Benton and Skinner
(2015), whereby the evidence accumulation rate in a two forced-choice race
categorization task was systematically related to the observers’ race—Caucasian participants
were more sensitive to “Asian” visual cues than Caucasian, and the reverse pattern was
observed in the Asian participant sample. To tap into this enhanced sensitivity, Benton and
Skinner used a series of faces that had been morphed to systematically control the levels of
Asian and Caucasian race signals in each presented face, allowing for the rate of
accumulation to be derived from the response times of the participants. Such an approach is
particularly appropriate for the investigation of the ORCA, which is most consistently found
to be indexed through reaction times rather than accuracy (Caldara et al., 2004; Ge et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2015; Valentine & Endo, 1992; Zhao & Bentin, 2008, 2011) although not exclusively (cf. Feng et al., 2011). However, if the
ORCA is an index of how sensitive we are to the visual race signals of the same and other
race faces, we may be able to probe this dynamic by systematically decreasing the strength
of the input of these signals. From this point of view, one may expect there to be a tipping
point at which the enhanced sensitivity to other race faces allows for preserved race
categorization relative to same race faces, leading to accuracy differences at specific
levels of visual input. To address this question, we presented participants with images of
East Asian (EA) and West Caucasian (WC) faces and asked them to categorize the race of the
face. Critically, we systematically scrambled the phase/location of the spatial frequencies
in the images in incremental steps of 5%, ranging from 100% structure through to 0%
structure (Honey et al., 2008;
Kuefner et al., 2010; Rodger et al., 2015; Rodger et al., 2018; Rousselet et al., 2008; Stoll et al., 2019; Wyssen et al., 2019). Comparisons
across this range of phase coherence allowed us to compare the accuracy and reaction time
profiles of a group of Swiss and a group of Japanese participants to determine how race
categorization is performed in visually degraded stimuli.
Methods
The Human Ethics Committee at the University of Fribourg and the University of Waseda
approved the methods and procedure used in this study. All participants provided written
informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All data used in
statistical analyses and represented in figures are available online on the Open Science
Framework repository at https://osf.io/s6gwj/.
Participants
Participants were recruited from two separate cultural groups; 60 Swiss undergraduate
students from the University of Fribourg (West Caucasian), and 66 Japanese participants
from Waseda University (East Asian). After the dataset inclusion/exclusion process (see
section “Data Processing & Analysis”), there were 38 participants in the Swiss
participants sample (Mage = 20.29,
SDage = 3.38, 33 female, 36 right-handed), and 46 in the
Japanese sample (Mage = 22.23,
SDage = 3.89, 24 female, 41 right-handed). Six participants
in the Japanese sample declined to give their ages. All participants reported having
normal or corrected-to-normal vision and were given research participation credit for
their respective studies.
Stimuli
The face stimuli consisted of 20 grayscale images of 10 Caucasian and 10 Asian identities
(equal number of male and female). The face images were neutral expression portrait
photographs of Belgian (WC) and Chinese (EA) students aged from 18 to 25 years, and have
been utilized in previous studies investigating same and other race face processing (de Lissa et al., 2021; Michel et al., 2006, 2006). The faces were cropped to
exclude ears and hair, and were matched for amplitude spectra, luminance, and contrast
using the SHINE toolbox (Willenbockel
et al., 2010). To systematically degrade the structure of the face images, we
utilized a phase-scrambling technique that randomized the location of all spatial
frequencies in the images while preserving amplitude spectra across orientations and
spatial frequencies (Honey et al.,
2008). We thus subjected the face images to this phase randomization process in
5% steps of preserved coherence that ranged from 100% (full coherence/image structure) to
0% (completely randomized, no image structure) for a total of 21 levels of phase coherence
(see Figure 1). The
phase-randomization process was performed twice to produce two sets of phase-scrambled
stimuli to create a broader array of randomization patterns. There were 20 stimulus images
in each experimental condition, with a total of 840 trials presented to participants.
Prior to the commencement of the experiment, the participants calibrated the presentation
of the stimuli size on their computer screens by scaling an image to match the size of a
bank card and noting their distance from the screen. Accordingly, the face stimuli were
presented to the dimensions of 9.78° × 13.29° of visual angle set within a square image
subtending 15.1° on each side.
Figure 1.
Examples of EA and WC face stimuli used in the study, ranging from 0% structural
coherence through to 100%, in 5% steps. The WC and EA were matched on low-level visual
qualities at a level of coherence.
Examples of EA and WC face stimuli used in the study, ranging from 0% structural
coherence through to 100%, in 5% steps. The WC and EA were matched on low-level visual
qualities at a level of coherence.
Procedure
The stimuli were presented through web-based Gorilla Experiment Builder software
(www.gorilla.sc) to
create and host our experiment (Anwyl-Irvine et al., 2020, 2021), and conducted on personal desktop/laptop computers of participants in an
environment of their choosing. These choices were a compromise due to lockdown situations
in both countries imposed by COVID-19 restrictions. Participants were instructed to
categorize faces according to their race, pressing either the “F” or “J” keys with
separate hands, with the respective conditions counterbalanced between two groups of
participants to avoid laterality effects. Participants were instructed to respond “as
quickly and accurately as possible,” and task instructions were accordingly translated for
Japanese participants. Four practice trials allowed participants to learn the race/key
response instructions, with accuracy feedback provided after each trial to ensure the
response hands were learned correctly. After the practice trials, the experimental trials
commenced where no feedback was provided. Trials commenced with a central fixation cross
presented for an average of 600 ± 100 ms (jittered), followed by a 200 ms blank screen
before a face stimulus was presented for 200 ms before being replaced by a blank screen.
The choice of a 200 ms face stimulus presentation duration was guided by the results of a
previous study indicating that race categorization can be reliably executed within 200 ms
of face presentation (de Lissa et
al., 2021). The trial ended when a participant made a key response, which was
proceeded by an 800 ± 200 ms (jittered) blank screen. Six breaks were provided throughout
the testing sessions, which lasted approximately 45 min.
Data Processing & Analysis
All participant datasets were assessed for inclusion/exclusion before statistical
analysis. Trials with response times shorter than 100 ms and longer than 2000 ms were
excluded from the datasets (0% and 1.7%, respectively, see Figure 2 for correct reaction time distributions
prior to the trial exclusion). Participants with lower than 75% overall accuracy in the
full-structure 100% coherence conditions were rejected (3% of participants in the Swiss
group and 0% in the Japanese group). Similarly, participants that exhibited greater than
75% accuracy in either stimulus race conditions at the 0% coherence level were also
rejected to exclude participants with biased response patterns when no face structure was
discernible (35% in the Swiss group and 28% in the Japanese group). These processes also
rejected participants who were not engaged in the task and made single-key responses (5%
in the Swiss group and 10% in the Japanese group). Overall, these inclusion criteria
excluded 22 datasets from each of the Swiss and Japanese participant samples, leaving 38
and 46 included datasets, respectively. It is likely that the less-controlled experimental
context of the online study led to the high rejection rate, a potential methodological
concern for such studies.
Figure 2.
Correct reaction times for both Japanese and Swiss participants exhibited a
comparable distribution, with 1.7% of trials exceeding the 2000 ms reaction time (RT)
inclusion threshold for analysis. Data has been smoothed with a Gaussian-weighted
moving average, and shaded areas represent 95% bootstrapped confidence intervals.
Correct reaction times for both Japanese and Swiss participants exhibited a
comparable distribution, with 1.7% of trials exceeding the 2000 ms reaction time (RT)
inclusion threshold for analysis. Data has been smoothed with a Gaussian-weighted
moving average, and shaded areas represent 95% bootstrapped confidence intervals.Condition means were calculated for each participant for accuracy (correct responses
divided by accepted trials) and reaction time (RT, of correct trials). Accuracy and RT
data were separately subjected to Bayes Factor ANOVA analyses for each of the 21 coherence
levels comparing the effect of stimulus race, observer race, and the interaction between
stimulus and observer race. The subject was treated as a random factor, and Bayes Factors
were calculated across matched models (models with an interaction effect are compared with
models of the same predictors yet excluding the interaction effect—see, Keysers et al., 2020). In addition
to the Bayes Factor ANOVA, individual Bayes Factor analyses were conducted in the Swiss
and Japanese observer data to provide additional insight into their respective behavioral
profiles. Bayes factor thresholds representing sufficient evidence to denote the presence
of an effect (difference in means) were taken as BF10 = > 3
and at BF10 < = 0.33 for evidence supporting the null
hypothesis. Evidence for the null hypothesis is presented in the figures containing Bayes
factor analyses but is not explicitly discussed for brevity. Statistical analyses were
conducted in RStudio (2021.09.2,
2020) using the BayesFactor package (0.9.12−4.3, Morey et al., 2018) and BayestestR (0.11.5, Makowski et al., 2019).
Results
ORCA Reaction Time
The analysis of the Swiss observer group RT showed patterns of an ORCA RT effect from the
20% coherence level through to 75%, peaking at the 30% coherence level
(BF10 = 2.62 × 107). The Japanese group, however,
exhibited clear evidence of an other-race categorization RT effect in the higher coherence
levels from 60% through to 100% (peak effect at 100%,
BF10 = 2.05 × 104), excepting at 75% (see Figure 3).
Figure 3.
The reaction time profiles of the Swiss and Japanese observer groups exhibited a
similar pattern to the accuracy data, with the exception of the 20% effect in the
Japanese group. Reaction time profiles have been smoothed with a Gaussian-weighted
filter and spline-interpolated for visual depictions. Shaded areas represent
bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.
The reaction time profiles of the Swiss and Japanese observer groups exhibited a
similar pattern to the accuracy data, with the exception of the 20% effect in the
Japanese group. Reaction time profiles have been smoothed with a Gaussian-weighted
filter and spline-interpolated for visual depictions. Shaded areas represent
bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.The Bayes Factor ANOVA for RT revealed evidence of an effect of the race of the stimuli
from 25% through to 100% (peak 65%,
BF10 = 1.83 × 104), except at 55%. This general
effect of stimulus race was moderated by the influence of observer race, with evidence of
this interaction arising at 20% and continuing through to 55% (peak 30%,
BF10 = 2.1 × 104) and again at 100% coherence
(BF10 = 117.87). The nature of the interaction is further
illustrated in Figure 4, where
the evidence for an effect of stimulus race in the lower coherence levels in the Swiss
group contrasts with the evidence for the null hypothesis at those low coherence levels in
the Japanese group, whereupon the pattern reverses in the high coherence levels.
Figure 4.
The Bayes Factor ANOVA for reaction time revealed evidence for an effect of race of
stimuli across most of the coherence range starting from 25%, however, the interaction
between stimulus and observer race showed that the low coherence level effects were
due to the Swiss group while the high coherence level effect was due to the Japanese
group. The reaction time effect is calculated as the other race minus same race
reaction times and shaded areas represent bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.
The Bayes Factor ANOVA for reaction time revealed evidence for an effect of race of
stimuli across most of the coherence range starting from 25%, however, the interaction
between stimulus and observer race showed that the low coherence level effects were
due to the Swiss group while the high coherence level effect was due to the Japanese
group. The reaction time effect is calculated as the other race minus same race
reaction times and shaded areas represent bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.
ORCA Accuracy
Analyzed separately to investigate the accuracy profiles of the two observer groups, both
Swiss and Japanese participants exhibited chance (∼50%) level accuracy at very low
coherence levels (see Figure 5),
however at 20% coherence both groups showed very strong and moderate evidence that other
race faces were categorized more accurately than same race faces (Swiss observers mean
EA = 77.2%, WC = 60.9%, BF10 = 48.29, Japanese observers mean
EA = 68.9%, WC = 77.5%, BF10 = 3.39). The accuracy advantage
for other race faces continued in the Swiss group from 20% through to 50% and transiently
at 70% coherence, peaking at 25% coherence (mean EA = 90.3%, WC = 67.4%,
BF10 = 3.45 × 105). The Japanese observers,
however, did not exhibit a further other-race categorization advantage in the lower
coherence levels, which instead manifested again in the higher coherence levels,
transiently at 60% (mean EA = 88.6%, WC = 95.5%, BF10 = 70.78)
and then sustained from 70% through to 100% with a peak at 95% coherence(mean EA = 89.7%,
WC = 96%, BF10 = 280.13).
Figure 5.
Accuracy at each level of coherence for the Swiss and Japanese observers revealed
differing patterns, where the Swiss participants exhibited clear evidence of an Other
Race Categorization Advantage (ORCA) in the low coherence levels while the majority of
the effect for the Japanese participants was in the higher coherence levels. Accuracy
profiles have been smoothed with a Gaussian-weighted filter and spline-interpolated
for visual depictions Shaded areas represent bootstrapped 95% confidence
intervals.
Accuracy at each level of coherence for the Swiss and Japanese observers revealed
differing patterns, where the Swiss participants exhibited clear evidence of an Other
Race Categorization Advantage (ORCA) in the low coherence levels while the majority of
the effect for the Japanese participants was in the higher coherence levels. Accuracy
profiles have been smoothed with a Gaussian-weighted filter and spline-interpolated
for visual depictions Shaded areas represent bootstrapped 95% confidence
intervals.The Bayes Factor ANOVA analysis comparing the effects of stimulus race, observer race,
and stimulus × observer race interaction suggested that the race of the observer itself
did not influence the accuracy of race categorization, but that the effects at various
levels of phase coherence were moderated by an interaction between stimulus and observer
race. The main effect of stimulus race arose at 20% coherence (also representing the peak
of the effect, BF10 = 7.6 × 103), and was present
throughout the range of coherence levels, excepting 55% (see Figure 6). However, the stimulus × observer race
interaction effects clarify these patterns, revealing an enhanced other-race
categorization effect for the Swiss group in the lower coherence levels from 25% to 35%
(peaking at 25%, BF10 = 1.37 × 105), while the
Japanese group exhibited enhanced sensitivity to other races in the higher 95−100%
coherence levels (peaking at 95%, BF10 = 336.51). Of note,
there was no evidence of a race of stimulus × observer race interaction in the 20%
coherence levels.
Figure 6.
Bayes factor ANOVA results revealed an other-race categorization advantage for
accuracy from 20% and enduring through most of the higher levels of coherence,
although this effect was moderated by different accuracy profiles for the Swiss and
Japanese observers. Accuracy effect is calculated as other race minus same race
accuracies and shaded areas represent bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.
Bayes factor ANOVA results revealed an other-race categorization advantage for
accuracy from 20% and enduring through most of the higher levels of coherence,
although this effect was moderated by different accuracy profiles for the Swiss and
Japanese observers. Accuracy effect is calculated as other race minus same race
accuracies and shaded areas represent bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.
Discussion
The analyses of race categorization reaction times revealed contrasting patterns for the
Swiss and Japanese observer groups, with the former exhibiting robust evidence of an ORCA
when the image structures had been greatly degraded (from 20% through to 50% phase
coherence). The Japanese observer group, however, only exhibited a reliable ORCA in reaction
time when there was more structure in the face images, from 60% through (mostly) to the
conventional 100% phase signal. The Bayes Factor ANOVA confirmed this pattern, with a clear
pattern of stimulus race by observer race interactions in the lower coherence levels and at
the 100% level (Figure 4). The
pattern for the Japanese group thus aligned with previous results finding ORCA reaction time
effects when using clear, full-structure (unscrambled) face images as stimuli (Caldara et al., 2004; Feng et al., 2011; Ge et al., 2009; Levin, 1996, 2000; Valentine & Endo, 1992; Zhao & Bentin, 2008, 2011). The reaction time patterns of the Swiss
group, however, did not align with these past results using 100% phase signals, even when
cross-cultural participant samples were used. This might be due to very repetitive nature of
the task. It is worth noting that, the reaction time profiles did not show evidence for a
race of observer effect for reaction time at any of the coherence levels. Rather, the ORCA
observed at different coherence levels suggests that the visual race signals extracted and
used in race categorization tasks do not follow a universal trajectory as images are
systematically degraded of structure, but that the race/culture of the subject plays a
strong role in what visual information is extracted and used. While in our study we
specifically manipulated the amount of visual structure present in the face images, previous
studies have found evidence that Caucasian and Asian observers often use differing levels of
high and low spatial frequencies in face processing tasks, specifically that Asian
participants typically tend to rely more heavily on low-spatial frequencies, while Caucasian
participants make more relative use of high spatial frequencies (Blais et al., 2008; Caldara et al., 2010; Estéphan et al., 2018; Miellet et al., 2010; Tardif et al., 2017; for a review Caldara, 2017). While the
phase-scrambling procedure randomly misplaces the location of differing levels of image
structures and thereby retains the same profile of spatial frequency information across the
images, it necessarily decreases or completely erodes the spatial frequencies able to be
extracted to form the structural patterns of the forms in the image—in our case that of the
faces. It is possible then that the patterns we observe in the current study are related to
those found for spatial frequency in cross-cultural comparisons, specifically the emphasis
on higher spatial frequencies for Asian participants and the lower frequencies for
Caucasians. Here it should be reiterated that the phase-scrambling technique used to
systematically degrade the visual structure of the faces was applied equally to the EA and
WC stimuli and that they were balanced for brightness, contrast, and spatial frequency
content at each level of phase-coherence. The effects observed are thus unlikely to be due
to low-level visual differences introduced by the phase-scrambling technique, but rather the
different ways in which the Swiss and Japanese participants extracted race-relevant visual
signals from them.As the effects observed in the current study related to the perception of the race of the
stimuli used, it is relevant to consider the possibility that the Chinese identities used as
the EA stimuli may have been processed as an other-race or an out-group by the Japanese
participants in the current study, though different by degrees to the WC Swiss faces used. A
recent study utilizing the very same EA and WC stimuli in both Swiss and Japanese
participant samples observed a robust ORCA, exhibiting a cross-cultural interaction when
tasked with categorizing the face by race (de Lissa et al., 2021). We can thus rule out the
possibility that our current results rely on a specific difference in how the Swiss and
Japanese groups perceived in/out group faces.It is also important to note that we observed clear evidence of an ORCA in both reaction
time and in accuracy. While most studies investigating the ORCA have observed mostly
reaction time effects (Blais et al.,
2008; Caldara et al.,
2004; Ge et al., 2009;
Liu et al., 2015; Valentine & Endo, 1992; Zhao & Bentin, 2008, 2011), the effects we observed in
reaction time were mostly also present in the accuracy analyses. While less robust than
reaction time, ORCA accuracy has been observed in a few previous studies (de Lissa et al., 2021; Feng et al., 2011). In the current
study, it was hypothesized that if people exhibit enhanced sensitivity to other race visual
signals then systematically degrading the visual quality of faces may lead to a point where
other race signals remain perceptible while same race signals are not. Apart from the
cultural differences we observed in ORCA accuracy across different levels of phase coherence
(visual structure), both observer groups exhibited clear evidence of an accuracy ORCA at the
20% coherence level (see Figure 7).
Although the Japanese group exhibited less evidence than the Swiss group
(BF10 = 3.39 compared with
BF10 = 48.29, respectively), the overall effect of stimulus race
was clear in the accuracy of Bayes Factor ANOVA at 20%, and the stimulus by observer race
interaction only became evident at the 25% coherence level. At the 20% level of coherence,
the Swiss and Japanese groups attained an average accuracy of ∼77% for other race faces,
while the Japanese group was on average better at categorizing same race races than the
Swiss group (69% and 61%) although this was not evident in the Bayes Factor results. The
clear pattern of evidence for an ORCA for accuracy, in our view, reflects an enhanced
sensitivity for the visual race signals of other race faces, having reached a level of
degraded visual input where the different levels of activation threshold for the same and
other race faces led to corresponding differences in the ability to perceive the relative
race signals. At this point, it is important to reiterate that the visual stimuli themselves
were balanced such that even though the same and other race faces were significantly
degraded in visual structure (see Figure 7), the phase scrambling process did not benefit one stimulus over another.
In addition to this, the stimuli were themselves counterbalanced in terms of what
constituted the “same” and “other” race for the two observer groups. We, therefore, suggest
that the accuracy effect manifesting in response to the heavily degraded stimuli (20%
coherence) reflects a universal sensitivity to other race faces, and may be independent of
the observer group ORCA interactions occurring across the other coherence levels.
Figure 7.
Both observer groups exhibited an Other Race Categorization Advantage (ORCA) in
accuracy at the 20% coherence level, with no evidence of a group or interaction effect.
The example stimuli provide an indication of how little structure was sufficient to
elicit this effect for each group and each stimulus, respectively.
Both observer groups exhibited an Other Race Categorization Advantage (ORCA) in
accuracy at the 20% coherence level, with no evidence of a group or interaction effect.
The example stimuli provide an indication of how little structure was sufficient to
elicit this effect for each group and each stimulus, respectively.Such a universal effect is in line with the multidimensional face space model advanced by
Valentine (1991), Valentine and Endo (1992), decreased
familiarity with other races leads to them being stored in as a more dense cluster of
exemplars (see also Caldara & Abdi,
2006), where the density of the array of exemplars for other race faces would most
likely be influenced most strongly by a common salient visual feature shared across
other-race face exemplars. Accordingly, our results are in line with those of Levin (1996, 2000), although we do not advance a position on what
“features” contain the race signals, nor do we have a clear view of how such signals might
be emphasized when performing implicit social categorization tasks. Here, it is worth
pointing out an uncertainty in the generalizability of the patterns we have observed in our
study in tasks not requiring explicit race categorization. Not only that, the difference in
the accuracy and reaction times between our Swiss and Japanese observers may involve not
only implicit differences in how race is extracted and processed across different levels of
visual degradation, but that differences in the way that the task may be approached might
also need to be considered. Such a consideration is particularly relevant when considering
how the perception of “threat” might interact with the perception of race or the specific
tasks/instructions given to participants. We did not control for the apparent perception of
threat, dominance, attractiveness, etc., instead utilizing face stimuli displaying a neutral
facial expression of emotion that had been found to elicit a cross-cultural ORCA interaction
in a previous study (de Lissa et al.,
2021). However, these dimensions may significantly interact or overlap with the
categorization of race by facilitating fast responses, particularly in paradigms involving
short presentation times where the extraction of visual features may be impacted due to
hierarchical chains of processing from course to fine analysis of face structures/features
(Petras et al., 2019).Our results also have implications for future studies and the general consideration of how
visual degradation of images may modulate the strength of other race effects in real life.
While it is valid to assume that the visually clear images used in previous studies to
investigate the ORE and ORCA are good representations of face images we might commonly
encounter in life, we are also often presented with photographs or videos where the image
quality is significantly reduced. Similarly, a dark environment or ones involving other
types of visual degradation might be more likely to lead to an enhanced perception of race
in other race faces relative to same race faces, to the point where race might only be
extracted from the former. This has the potential to impact the reporting of descriptions of
possible suspects in law enforcement contexts, leading to an over-representation of reports
specifying race when other (less familiar) race is involved. Further, our results raise
questions about how the brain responds to faces of different races when visual quality has
degraded to an extent where underlying sensitivities to the same and other race signals may
lead to either the presence or absence of activation. At such levels of visual degradation,
it is possible that the neural indices of race processing and perception are at their most
clear when comparing the response to the same and other race faces. Accordingly, such a
paradigm might be well-suited to determine the timing of when the race is processed in the
brain (e.g., Vizioli et al.,
2010a, 2010b), as the
presence versus the absence of activation may provide a clearer lens through which to see
such an effect, whereas such an effect might not be as apparent when activation of the race
perception processes occur reliably in each trial in response to full-structure face
images.
Conclusions
In one of the earliest scientific investigations of the perception of other race faces,
Feingold (1914) posited that
our insensitivity to visual qualities signifying our own race is a “matter of habit,” in
that we do not find such signals diagnostic or useful in the tasks we perform when viewing
faces where there is not much racial diversity. When introduced to new physiognomic
patterns characteristic of other races, such visual signals provide a salient marker of
difference. It is only through repeated encounters that the salience of such markers
becomes less diagnostic, as we are met with the need to individuate members of other races
more often. Our findings point to this enhanced sensitivity to visual race signals in
other race faces, which in the current study manifested when the visual quality of the
face images was degraded to a critical threshold. However, the additional findings of the
two observer groups exhibiting modulations of an ORCA in accuracy and reaction time
suggest that the additional consideration of observer-group social/cultural aspects when
interpreting the relative presence or absence of such effects using traditional broad-band
and full-structure faces.
Authors: Liezhong Ge; Hongchuan Zhang; Zhe Wang; Paul C Quinn; Olivier Pascalis; David Kelly; Alan Slater; Jie Tian; Kang Lee Journal: Perception Date: 2009 Impact factor: 1.490