TITLE:
The Other-Race Effect in Caucasian and Japanese-Descendant Children in Brazil: Evidence of Developmental Plasticity
AUTHORS:
Ana Carolina Monnerat Fioravanti-Bastos, Alberto Filgueiras, J. Landeira-Fernandez
KEYWORDS:
Face Recognition, Other-Race Effect, Development, Culture
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.5 No.19,
December
5,
2014
ABSTRACT: The
Other-Race Effect has been confirmed by several experimental studies, in which
the individual has greater difficulty in recognizing the faces of races that
are different from their own. Few studies have investigated this effect during
the development of the face processing system. The aim of this study was to
investigate the development of the Other-Race Effect in Caucasian and Japanese-descendants
children born and living in Brazil. Seventy-four children, split into two age
groups (5 - 7 and 9 - 11 years of age), were tested. Japanese-descendant
children did not present the effect in favor of their own-race faces, whereas
Caucasian children demonstrated the effect in both age groups. This indicates
that the effect is present early in the development of face recognition and
that contact with the faces of another race during childhood dissipates it.
These findings suggest that experience with faces from the children’s visual
context is crucial for shaping face processing.