Frontiers in Psychology (Sep 2015)
Individuation instructions decrease the Cross-Race Effect in a face matching task
Abstract
Aims: The increased tendency to incorrectly identify faces from unfamiliar (or cross) races (CR), termed the Cross-Race Effect (CRE), holds significant relevance in identity verification environments. Research reveals that individuation instructions heighten perceiver motivation to attend to identity-diagnostic features of CR faces, thereby reducing the CRE. Previous research has predominantly employed sequential face presentation paradigms, which do not simulate practical applications such as document screening. This study sought to determine the efficacy of individuation instructions in ameliorating the CRE within an unfamiliar face matching task (UFMT). Method: Caucasian participants (n=38) were allocated to either the training (n=18) or control group. All participants completed a baseline UFMT comprised of grey-scale Chinese (cross-race) and Caucasian (same-race (SR)) faces. In training, participants received individuation instructions while the control group received unrelated instructions. All participants then viewed successively presented faces (20 CR and 20 SR) followed by a second UFMT. Results: Overall, face matching accuracy was high (M = 87%, SE =1). Accuracy for CR faces significantly improved (by 7.2%) following individuation instructions, t(1, 17) = -4.2014, p = .001, however no change was found for SR faces, t(1, 17) = .762, p = .456. In the control group, face matching accuracy for SR faces decreased (by 4.4%) following instructions, t(1, 19) = 2.682, p = .015, however no change was found for CR faces, t(1, 19) = .827, p = .418. That is, face matching accuracy for CR faces improved for participants receiving individuation instructions but not for the control group. Conclusions: Individuation instructions are an effective moderator of the CRE even within a face matching paradigm. Since unfamiliar face matching tasks most closely simulate document verification tasks, specifically passport screening, instructional techniques such as these may improve task performance within applied settings of significant practical importance.
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