Exploration of the Other Race Recognition Deficit Using the EZ Diffusion Model

Indianapolis, IN

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 focus on when the recognition deficit occurs. A more interesting question is, why does it occur? The current research was designed to investigate the possible processing components responsible for the ORB through the use of a quantitative cognitive model, the EZ diffusion model. The EZ diffusion model jointly considers both accuracy and reaction time in addition to traditional measures of performance. This allows us to evaluate recognition decisions made about same-race and other-race faces. In addition to examining the processing components, emotion was also manipulated to potentially differentiate what type of processing, configural or featural, is recruited. One theory of face processing, the Ingroup/Outgroup model of face processing, argues that since faces are first categorized configurally. If this is the case then the emotion, a featural component should have no effect on the ORB. Using the EZ diffusion model, the results indicated that recognition differences occur because of the quality of information available at encoding 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.