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Modeling the Role of Social-Cognitive Processes in the Recognition of Own- and Other-Race Faces
Abstract
Known as the cross-race effect (CRE), psychological research has consistently shown that people are less accurate at identifying faces of another, less familiar race. While the CRE has most often been demonstrated in recognition memory, its effects have also been found in temporally preceding social-cognitive stages—including racial categorization, perceptual discrimination, and higher-level cognitive processing. Using path models of own- and other-race face processing, the current study sought to estimate how temporally preceding processes might mediate the CRE established in recognition memory. Results demonstrated that racial categorization and higher-level cognitive processes primarily mediate the CRE in recognition memory, and that the degree of interracial contact moderated the incidence of repetition errors on other-race faces.
... This heightened attention to category diagnostic features is argued to impede processing of identity-relevant information, hindering subsequent recognition. In support of this, studies suggest that the other-race categorization advantage is related to the own-race bias (Ge et al., 2009;Levin, 1996;Susa, Meissner, & de Heer, 2010). For example, one study found a significant correlation between faster categorization of other-race faces and poorer recognition of these other-race faces (Susa et al., 2010). ...
... In support of this, studies suggest that the other-race categorization advantage is related to the own-race bias (Ge et al., 2009;Levin, 1996;Susa, Meissner, & de Heer, 2010). For example, one study found a significant correlation between faster categorization of other-race faces and poorer recognition of these other-race faces (Susa et al., 2010). ...
... Finding that the OAB in the current study was due to participants having a more liberal response criterion and responding with more false alarms for older adult than young adult faces is also consistent with previous research (Rhodes & Anastasi, 2012). To our knowledge, this is the first study to report a relationship between the other-age categorization advantage and the OAB, but the link between social categorization and recognition has been found for own-and other-race faces (e.g., Susa et al., 2010). The relationship between the OAB and the other-age categorization advantage observed in the current study was small to medium in size (r = .2). Based on this correlation coefficient, only a relatively small amount of variance in the OAB can be accounted for by variance in the other-age categorization advantage. ...
Young adults recognize other young adult faces more accurately than older adult faces, an effect termed the own‐age bias (OAB). The categorization‐individuation model (CIM) proposes that recognition memory biases like the OAB occur as unfamiliar faces are initially quickly categorized. In‐group faces are seen as socially relevant which motivates the processing of individuating facial features. Outgroup faces are processed more superficially with attention to category‐specific information which hinders subsequent recognition. To examine the roles of categorization and individuation in the context of the OAB, participants completed a face recognition task and a speeded age categorization task including young and older adult faces. In the recognition task, half of the participants were given instructions aimed to encourage individuation of other‐age faces. An OAB emerged that was not influenced by individuation instructions, but the magnitude of the OAB was correlated with performance in the categorization task. The larger the categorization advantage for older adult over young adult faces, the larger the OAB. These results support the premise that social categorization processes can affect the subsequent recognition of own‐ and other‐age faces, but do not provide evidence for the effectiveness of individuation instructions in reducing the OAB.
... Humans tend to be better at perceiving, memorizing and identifying others from an individual's own race than members of other races (Allport, 1954;Jackiw, Arbuthnott, Pfeifer, Marcon & Meissner, 2008;Susa et al., 2010). From a very early age, as early as five, children form implicit attitudes about social groups and exhibit a selfpreference for same-race children over other-race children (Baron & Banaji, 2006;Dunham, Baron, & Banaji, 2008;Tham, Bremner, & Hay, 2017). ...
... Race is intended to refer to the physical characteristics of an individual such as skin color, hair, facial structure and other cues that facilitate categorization (Sadler, Correll, Park, & Judd, 2012). Racial categorization has been conceived as involving early perceptual judgments about a person's ethnicity, especially while categorizing in-group/outgroup membership (Ito & Urland, 2003, 2005Levin, 1996Levin, , 2000Rivolta, 2014;Susa et al., 2010). However, when people observe faces of other ethnic groups, they quickly categorize the face based on race alone, at the expense of encoding other facial features (Sporer, 2001). ...
Previous research on the shooter bias effect has focused on Black versus White male stimuli, with participants mistakenly shooting unarmed Black stimuli more often than White stimuli. If shooter bias is related to threat perception, a pattern of bias should be present when using images of other threat-related ethnic minorities. Forty participants completed a computerized shooter task adapted from previous research in which participants made rapid repeated decisions to shoot or not shoot. Repeated measures ANOVA conducted on mean response times and error rates found participants significantly shot unarmed Black stimuli more quickly, more frequently, and at higher percentages compared to Hispanic/Latino and White stimuli. Signal detection analyses found that participants were significantly more accurate at discriminating weapons when primed with a Hispanic/Latino stimulus than other ethnic stimuli. Participants adopted the expected generous criterion for Black stimuli and cautious criterion for White stimuli when deciding to shoot.
... Furthermore, it has been proposed that-based on initial categorization as ingroup versus outgroup-attention is directed more towards category-specific features of outgroup faces and less towards individuating features as in ingroup faces (Hugenberg et al., 2010(Hugenberg et al., , 2013Levin, 1996Levin, , 2000. Diverse empirical evidence supports these assumptions: Outgroup faces have been shown to be encoded less holistically than ingroup faces (e.g., Degutis, Mercado, Wilmer, & Rosenblatt, 2013; but see Horry, Cheong, & Brewer, 2015;Hugenberg & Corneille, 2009;Michel, Caldara, & Rossion, 2006;Mondloch et al., 2010;Tanaka & Gordon, 2011;Zhao, Hayward, & B€ ulthoff, 2014), eye movements differ during encoding of ingroup faces compared to outgroup faces (e.g., Goldinger, He, & Papesh, 2009;Kawakami et al., 2014), and perceptual matching of simultaneously presented faces is more difficult for outgroup faces than for ingroup faces (e.g., Megreya, White, & Burton, 2011;Susa, Meissner, & de Heer, 2010). ...
... However, only few studies have demonstrated that early processing differences are indeed related to the ORE in LTM. While some studies revealed positive correlations between aforementioned early processing differences and the ORE in LTM (e.g., Degutis et al., 2013;Levin, 2000;Susa et al., 2010;Wiese, Kaufmann, & Schweinberger, 2012), no such correlations (e.g., Michel et al., 2006;Zhao et al., 2014) and even negative correlations (e.g., Horry et al., 2015) have been observed in other studies. These inconsistencies may partly be due to different analytical strategies, using different estimation indices of the performance difference (e.g., subtraction-based vs. correlation-based methods, see also Zhao et al., 2014). ...
People have difficulties in remembering other‐race faces; this so‐called other‐race effect (ORE) has been frequently observed in long‐term recognition memory (LTM). Several theories argue that the ORE in LTM is caused by differences in earlier processing stages, such as encoding of ingroup and outgroup faces. We test this hypothesis by exploring whether the ORE can already be observed in visual working memory (VWM)—an intermediate system located between encoding processes and LTM storage. In four independent experiments, we observed decreased performance for outgroup faces compared to ingroup faces using three different VWM tasks: an adaptive N‐back task, a self‐ordered pointing task, and a change detection task. Also, we found that the number of items stored in VWM is smaller for outgroup faces than for ingroup faces. Further, we explored whether performance differences in the change detection task are related to the classic ORE in recognition memory. Our results provide further evidence that the ORE originates during earlier stages of cognitive processing. We discuss that (how) future ORE research may benefit from considering theories and evidence from the VWM literature.
... Recent research has suggested that mechanisms involved in the early stages of face processing, including encoding and working memory, contribute to the cross-race effect in long-term memory (Hugenberg et al., 2010;Levin, 2000;Stelter & Degner, 2018). For example, some studies have indicated a positive correlation between differences in face encoding and the cross-race effect in long-term memory (DeGutis, Mercado, Wilmer, & Rosenblatt, 2013;Susa, Meissner, & de Heer, 2010;Wiese, Kaufmann, & Schweinberger, 2014). Stelter and Degner (2018) suggested that WM's and long-term memory's cross-race effects are correlated. ...
Previous research has shown that working memory (WM) performance for own‐race faces is better than for other‐race faces. We focused on the storage capacity and encoding rate to identify WM characteristics that facilitate own‐race face recognition. We investigated WM's temporal dynamics for own‐ and other‐race faces to separately identify the contribution of storage capacity and encoding rate on the own‐race advantage in WM. We presented Asian participants with Asian faces as own‐race faces and Black faces as other‐race faces in two experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 indicated a higher storage capacity for own‐race faces, and Experiment 2 also indicated an increased encoding rate for own‐race faces when backward masking was used. Moreover, there was no association between storage capacity and encoding rate. These findings suggest that both storage capacity and encoding rate independently contribute to the cross‐race effect in WM.
... Finally, participants completed an interracial contact questionnaire. We took seven items from the Social Experience Questionnaire (Susa, Meissner, & de Heer, 2010) and adjusted these items to ask about contact with Caucasian or South Asian people, and we added two new items that asked about contact with the other race on social media, or in TV programmes or films. Participants were asked if the videos played smoothly and faces in the lineups were displayed clearly. ...
Eyewitness identifications play a key role in the justice system, but eyewitnesses make errors, often with profound consequences. Errors are more likely when the witness is of a different race to the suspect, due to a phenomenon called the Own Race Bias (ORB). ORB is characterized as an encoding-based deficit, but has been predominantly tested using static photographs of people facing the camera. We used findings from basic science and innovative technologies to develop and test whether a novel interactive lineup procedure, wherein witnesses can rotate and dynamically view the lineup faces from different angles, improves witness discrimination accuracy and attenuates the ORB, compared to the most widely used procedure in laboratories and police forces around the world—the static frontal-pose photo lineup. No novel procedure has previously been shown to improve witness discrimination accuracy. In Experiment 1, participants (N=220) identified own-race or other-race culprits from sequentially presented interactive lineups or static frontal-pose photo lineups. In Experiment 2, participants (N=8,507) identified own-race or other-race culprits from interactive lineups that were either presented sequentially, simultaneously wherein the faces could be moved independently, or simultaneously wherein the faces moved jointly into the same angle. Interactive lineups enhanced witnesses’ discriminability compared to static lineups, especially when they were presented simultaneously, for both own-race and other-race identifications. Our findings suggest that ORB is an encoding-based phenomenon, and exemplify how basic science can be used to address the important applied policy issue on how best to conduct a police lineup and reduce eyewitness errors.
... Importantly, these biases have been shown to have implications for face recognition. Longer Sxation durations at encoding toward ingroup faces and the outgroup classiScation advantage both predict the ingroup face recognition bias (Craig and Thorne, 2019;Ge et al., 2009;He et al., 2011;Susa et al., 2010). These Sndings collectively suggest that physiognomic differences may be present in what facial features are most identity-diagnostic across social categories and that individuals are biased toward individuating ingroup faces and categorizing outgroup faces. ...
The aim of the present study was to further understanding of how social categorization influences face recognition. According to the categorization-individuation model, face recognition can either be biased toward categorization or individuation. We hypothesized that the face recognition bias associated with a social category (e.g., the own-age bias) would be larger when faces were initially categorized according to that category. To examine this hypothesis, young adults (N = 63) completed a face recognition task after either making age or sex judgments while encoding child and adult faces. Young adults showed the own-age and own-sex biases in face recognition. Consistent with our hypothesis, the magnitude of the own-age bias in face recognition was larger when individuals made age, rather than sex, judgments at encoding. To probe the mechanisms underlying this effect, we examined ERP responses to child and adult faces across the social categorization conditions. Neither the P1 nor the N170 ERP components were modulated by the social categorization task or the social category membership of the face. However, the P2, which is associated with second-order configural processing, was larger to adult faces than child faces only in the age categorization condition. The N250, which is associated with individuation, was larger (i.e., more negative) to adult than child faces and during age categorization than sex categorization. These results are interpreted within the context of the categorization-individuation model and current research on biases in face recognition.
... While error rates are high under the low-stakes, ideal conditions of a laboratory setting, research indicates that a number of factors associated with the targeted traveler, the passport as well as earlier stages of cognitive processing such as social categorization, perceptual discrimination, and working memory (Hugenberg, Young, Bernstein, & Sacco, 2010;Lindsay, Jack, & Christian, 1991;Susa, Meissner, & de Heer, 2010). Despite its real-world applicability, surprisingly few studies have examined the cross-race effect as it pertains to the task performed by travel document screeners, where a simultaneous (or rapid sequential) comparison is made between a passport photo and the person presenting the photo to the screener. ...
Purpose: Travel document screeners play an important role in international security when determining whether a photo ID matches the tendering individual. Psychological research indicates when conditions involve low base-rates of “imposter” photos, document screeners change their response criterion for rendering a “match” determination. The primary purpose of the current experiments was to examine the nature of this base-rate criterion shift, free from experimental bias, for both own- and other-race faces. Further, experiment 2 examined how low base-rate conditions might moderate a cross-race effect in the calibration between confidence and accuracy.
Method: In two experiments participants completed an 80-trial task where they were asked to determine whether a passport photo matched the photo of a tendering individual. The base-rate of imposter IDs and the race of the people in the photos was manipulated across participants. Signal detection measures and the calibration between confidence and accuracy were analyzed.
Results: In each experiment low base-rates of imposter identifications induced a conservative criterion shift such that people were more likely to declare that faces “mismatch”. Further, race and imposter base-rate interacted to influence the confidence-accuracy calibration, suggesting a cross-race effect on calibration was exacerbated in the low imposter base-rate condition, and low base-rate conditions also elicited greater overconfidence for other- relative to own-race faces.
Conclusions: Free from experimental bias, low imposter base-rates induced a conservative response criterion, leading participants to render more “mismatch” decisions. Moreover, low base-rates moderated cross-race effects in the calibration between confidence and accuracy, and in a measure of overconfidence.
The current research conducted a three-level meta-analysis with a total of 159 journal articles on the other-race bias in facial identification, which had been published between 1969 and 2021. The effect size analysis yielded moderate pooled effect sizes of the other-race bias on face identification—people showed higher hit rates and discriminability, lower false alarm rates, and more stringent criteria for own-race faces than for other-race faces. Results from the sensitivity analysis and publication bias analysis also supported the robustness of the other-race bias. In moderation analyses, participant race (White vs. non-White) and retention interval between the study and test phases produced stable moderating effects on estimates of the other-race bias. Despite an increase in racial diversity for decades in our society, the current meta-analysis still demonstrated robust effects of the other-race bias in facial identification, replicating findings from the previous meta-analyses.
Eyewitness identifications play a key role in the justice system, but eyewitnesses can make errors, often with profound consequences. We used findings from basic science and innovative technologies to develop and test whether a novel interactive lineup procedure, wherein witnesses can rotate and dynamically view the lineup faces from different angles, improves witness discrimination accuracy compared with a widely used procedure in laboratories and police forces around the world-the static frontal-pose photo lineup. No novel procedure has previously been shown to improve witness discrimination accuracy. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 220) identified culprits from sequentially presented interactive lineups or static frontal-pose photo lineups. In Experiment 2, participants (N = 8,507) identified culprits from interactive lineups that were either presented sequentially, simultaneously wherein the faces could be moved independently, or simultaneously wherein the faces moved jointly into the same angle. Sequential interactive lineups enhanced witness discrimination accuracy compared with static photo lineups, and simultaneous interactive lineups enhanced witness discrimination accuracy compared with sequential interactive lineups. These finding were true both when participants viewed suspects who were of the same or different ethnicity/race as themselves. Our findings exemplify how basic science can be used to address the important applied policy issue on how best to conduct a police lineup and reduce eyewitness errors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Contact with racial outgroups is thought to reduce the cross-race recognition deficit (CRD), the tendency for people to recognize same-race (i.e., ingroup) faces more accurately than cross-race (i.e., outgroup) faces. In 2001, Meissner and Brigham conducted a meta-analysis in which they examined this question and found a meta-analytic effect of r = −.13. We conduct a new meta-analysis based on 20 years of additional data to update the estimate of this relationship and examine theoretical and methodological moderators of the effect. We find a meta-analytic effect of r = −.15. In line with theoretical predictions, we find some evidence that the magnitude of this relationship is stronger when contact occurs during childhood rather than adulthood. We find no evidence that the relationship differs for measures of holistic/configural processing compared with normal processing. Finally, we find that the magnitude of the relationship depends on the operationalization of contact and that it is strongest when contact is manipulated. We consider recommendations for further research on this topic.
One of the most familiar empirical phenomena associated with face recognition is the cross-race (CR) recognition deficit whereby people have difficulty recognizing members of a race different from their own. Most researchers assume that the CR deficit is caused by failure to generalize perceptual encoding expertise from same-race (SR) faces to CR faces. However, this explanation ignores critical differences in the social cognitions and feature coding priorities associated with SR and CR faces. On the basis of data from visual search and perceptual discrimination tasks, it appears that the deficit occurs because people emphasize visual information specifying race at the expense of individuating information when recognizing CR faces. In particular, it is possible to observe a paradoxical improvement in both detection and perceptual discrimination accuracy for CR faces that is limited to those who recognize them poorly. These findings support a new explanation for the CR recognition deficit based on feature coding differences between CR and SR faces, and appear incompatible with similarity-based models of face categories.
The current article reviews the own-race bias (ORB) phenomenon in memory for human faces, the finding that own-race faces are better remembered when compared with memory for faces of another, less familiar race. Data were analyzed from 39 research articles, involving 91 independent samples and nearly 5,000 participants. Measures of hit and false alarm rates, and aggregate measures of discrimination accuracy and response criterion were examined, including an analysis of 8 study moderators. Several theoretical relationships were also assessed (i.e., the influence of racial attitudes and interracial contact). Overall, results indicated a "mirror effect" pattern in which own-race faces yielded a higher proportion of hits and a lower proportion of false alarms compared with other-race faces. Consistent with this effect, a significant ORB was also found in aggregate measures of discrimination accuracy and response criterion. The influence of perceptual learning and differentiation processes in the ORB are discussed, in addition to the practical implications of this phenomenon.
This study investigated factors associated with the commonly found own-race bias (ORB) in face recognition. We utilized several measures of general face-recognition memory, visual perception and memory, general cognitive functioning, racial attitudes, and cross-race experience in an attempt to distinguish those individuals more likely to demonstrate the effect. White respondents (N = 129) were presented two facial-recognition tests (immediate and delayed) involving Black and White faces of both genders. The resulting ORB stemmed largely from a bias to respond "seen before" to Black faces, and produced an effect that was reliable across a 2-day period. An own-sex bias in accuracy was also found. The Benton Facial Recognition test and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test, 2 central measures of visual memory, were related to ability to recognize White faces. Self-reported amount of recent cross-race experiences was also correlated with overall accuracy on Black and White faces.
This study investigated factors associated with the commonly found own-race bias (ORB) in face recognition. We utilized several measures of general face-recognition memory, visual perception and memory, general cognitive functioning, racial attitudes, and cross-race experience in an attempt to distinguish those individuals more likely to demonstrate the effect. White respondents (N = 129) were presented two facial-recognition tests (immediate and delayed) involving Black and White faces of both genders. The resulting ORE stemmed largely from a bias to respond "seen before" to Black faces, and produced an effect that was reliable across a 2-day period. An own-sex bias in accuracy was also found. The Benton Facial Recognition test and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test, 2 central measures of visual memory, were related to ability to recognize White faces. Self-reported amount of recent cross-race experiences was also correlated with overall accuracy on Black and White faces.
Accusations of discriminatory treatment of minority persons in the criminal justice system create a need for policy and procedure development to create real and perceived equal treatment. A facial recognition deficit among law enforcement officers and witnesses for persons of another "race" contributes to unequal treatment of minority group members. This article demonstrates the other-race effect in an unusual context, reveals theoretical weaknesses, reveals the role of categorical processes in the phenomenon, and discusses policy implications. Experiment 1, based on feature and trait ratings, demonstrates that identical and racially ambiguous faces with different racial markers (hair) are perceived according to the marker. Experiment 2 demonstrates an other-race recognition effect using these faces. A feature acting as a racial marker can cause a face to be perceived and remembered differently. Other-race faces are perceived categorically, which drives the recognition process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Cues for cognitive disregard are those attributes of strangers that signify their lack of interest for us. Disregarded strangers are not noticed beyond category level; their invisibility is shown by our failure to recognize them as familiar in a subsequent encounter. Five experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 established the operation of disregard in a lab setting with the finding that subjects had better recall for (photos of) persons with natural relevance to their lives than for other photos to which their attention had been especially directed. In Experiment 2, which compared the recall of undergraduate-aged and elderly subjects for persons of varying ages, it was found that age discrepancy acted as a disregard cue, although youthfulness per se enhanced memorability. In Experiment 3, undergraduate-aged and middle-aged male and female targets had brief interactions with subjects. The hypothesis that college students were more likely to disregard middle-aged strangers with whom they had a brief encounter than strangers of their own age was supported. Experiment 4, following up a methodological point, supported the disregard hypothesis with the finding that the attractiveness of female targets affected the recall of male but not female subjects. In Experiment 5, middle-aged male and female targets had brief interactions with young and middle-aged subjects; the hypothesis that they would be better remembered by the middle-aged subjects was supported. It was concluded that although the faces of the targets and the memory of the subjects set boundary conditions, the invisibility of others is largely determined by the purposes of the observer as embodied in the disregard criteria.
Two studies were conducted to increase our knowledge of cross-race recognition of White and Oriental faces and to test the hypothesis that the "cross-race effect" (inferior facial recognition of other races) is due to lack of contact with the other race. In Experiment 1, White (n = 60) and Oriental (n = 60) university students in Canada attempted to recognize White and Oriental faces in a standard facial recognition paradigin. Although the cross-race effect was replicated for false alarms and d', neither perceived similarity nor self-rated contact predicted recognition accuracy. In Experiment 2, White (n = 92) and Oriental (n = 115) students from Singapore and Canada were tested. Contact with Whites and Orientals differed significantly for students in Singapore versus Canada but was not related to facial recognition even though the cross-race effect was replicated. On average, 6 predicted effects of the cross-race effect from the two experiments accounted for 10.83% of the variance, whereas the 18 predicted effects based on the contact hypothesis on average accounted for only 0.89% of the variance in facial recognition. The "contact hypothesis" is not a viable explanation of the results in studies of cross-race facial recognition. The cross-race effect remains unexplained.
The effects of manipulating configural and feature information on the face recognition process were investigated by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) from five electrode sites (Fz, Cz, Pz, T5, T6), while 17 European subjects performed an own-race and other-race face recognition task. A series of upright faces were presented in a study phase, followed by a test phase where subjects indicated whether inverted and upright faces were studied or novel via a button press response. An inversion effect, illustrating the disruption of upright configural information, was reflected in accuracy measures and in greater lateral N2 amplitude to inverted faces, suggesting that structural encoding is harder for inverted faces. An own-race advantage was found, which may reflect the use of configural encoding for the more frequently experienced own-race faces, and feature-based encoding for the less familiar other-race faces, and was reflected in accuracy measures and ERP effects. The midline N2 was larger to configurally encoded faces (i. e., own-race and upright), possibly suggesting configural encoding involves more complex processing than feature-based encoding. An N400-like component was sensitive to feature manipulations, with greater amplitude to other-race than own-race faces and to inverted than upright faces. This effect was interpreted as reflecting increased activation of incompatible representations activated by a feature-based strategy used in processing of other-race and inverted faces. The late positive complex was sensitive to configural manipulation with larger amplitude to other-race than own-race faces, and was interpreted as reflecting the updating of an own-race norm used in face recognition, to incorporate other-race information.
Although previous studies have demonstrated that faces of one's own race are recognized more accurately than are faces of other races, the theoretical basis of this effect is not clearly understood at present. The experiment reported in this paper tested the contact hypothesis of the own-race bias in face recognition using a cross-cultural design. Four groups of subjects were tested for their recognition of distinctive and typical own-race and other-race faces: (1) black Africans who had a high degree of contact with white faces, (2) black Africans who had little or no contact with white faces, (3) white Africans who had a high degree of contact with black faces, and (4) white Britons who had little contact with black faces. The results showed that although on the whole subjects recognized own-race faces more accurately and more confidently than they recognized other-race faces, the own-race bias in face recognition was significantly smaller among the high-contact subjects than it was among the low-contact subjects. Also, although high-contact black and white subjects showed significant main effects of distinctiveness in their recognition of faces of both races, low-contact black and white subjects showed significant main effects of distinctiveness only in their recognition of own-race faces. It is argued that these results support the contact hypothesis of the own-race bias in face recognition and Valentine's multidimensional space (MDS) framework of face encoding.This study was funded by a grant awarded to the first author by the Ford Foundation through the University of Zimbabwe. Grant No. 880/051.