Now everyone looks the same: alcohol intoxication reduces the own-race bias in face recognition.
Several factors influence the reliability of eyewitness identification evidence. Typically, recognition for same-race faces is better than for different-race faces (the own-race bias), and alcohol intoxication decreases overall face recognition accuracy. This research investigated how alcohol intoxication influences the own-race bias. Asian and European participants completed tests of recognition memory for Asian and European faces when either mildly intoxicated (mean breath alcohol concentration of .05) or when sober. Compared to their sober counterparts, intoxicated participants showed a reduced own-race bias. Specifically, alcohol intoxication had a larger negative effect on the recognition of same-race faces compared to different-race faces. The legal and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. khilliar@psy.unsw.edu.au
Kirin F
KF
Hilliar
Richard I
RI
Kemp
Thomas F
TF
Denson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000523:psychology*; D015982:Bias; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D044469:Racial Groups; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult