title: Childhood contact predicts hemispheric asymmetry in cross-race face processing.
abstract: Participants typically process same-race faces more quickly and more accurately than cross-race faces. This deficit is amplified in the right hemisphere of the brain, presumably due to its involvement in configural processing. The present research tested the idea that cross-race contact tunes cognitive and perceptual systems, influencing this asymmetric race-based deficit in face processing. Participants with high and low levels of contact performed a lateralized recognition task with same- and cross-race faces. Replicating prior work, participants with minimal contact showed cross-race deficits in processing that were larger in the right hemisphere. For participants with more contact, this lateralized deficit disappeared. This effect of contact seems to be independent of race-based attitudes (e.g., prejudice).
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Megan M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Sean M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.affiliation: California State University, Northridge, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Debbie S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. joshua.correll@colorado.edu.|Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, UCB 345, Boulder, CO, 80309-0345, USA. joshua.correll@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Correll
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D001921:Brain; D005145:Face; D000066499:Facial Recognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011287:Prejudice; D044469:Racial Groups; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Face perception; Face recognition; Social cognition