Examination of the other-race effect through visual statistical learning

Abstract

Other-race effect (ORE) refers to the phenomenon of better recognition of faces of one’s own race than those of other races. ORE has been reported in many situations, yet it has not been fully explored in the paradigm of visual statistical learning (VSL). In Experiment 1, we utilized the VSL paradigm to assess the ORE of infants aged 6－8 months. The infants were shown the familiar pattern of face stimulus components in the own-race or other-race condition. Surprisingly, the results showed that both the own-race and other-race faces were recognized, and no significant ORE was found in the infants who had presented ORE in previous studies. In Experiment 2, we tested adults’ ORE. The participants viewed a sequence of faces. Then, a test was conducted to examine whether they could differentiate the familiar triplets. Additionally, we showed them the faces in sequential and reversed order to investigate the generalization. In the results, although VSL couldn’t be generalized, a robust ORE through VSL was exhibited. Overall, these results suggest that ORE has a developmental trajectory.