Skilled perceptual-Memory and the Cross-Race Effect

Florida International University, Miami FL

Investigators

Abstract

Recent analysis has suggested that the cross-race effect (CRE), the tendency for people to have poor identification and discrimination of other-race compared to same-race faces, might be due to perceptual learning processes. The current proposal seeks to develop a more elaborate skilled perceptual-memory account of the CRE that is grounded broadly in the cognitive skill acquisition literature. The intellectual merit of the proposal is aimed towards advancing our theoretical understanding of this phenomenon, and bridging the findings of such a framework to field investigators and eyewitnesses in multicultural communities. Given the over-representation of minorities in the U.S. prison system, yet their under-representation in the law enforcement community, each of the proposed studies will focus upon the participation of Hispanic and Black individuals. Florida International University, located in Miami, Florida, provides a unique multicultural setting for exploring this phenomenon. Thus, the broader impacts of the proposal involve improving the discrimination and identification of CR faces for field investigators working in such multicultural communities or in other countries, and reducing the fallibility of eyewitness evidence leading to the wrongful conviction of these minority populations. The first three studies in the proposal are designed to address remaining issues of theoretical interest, including the assessment of early perceptual processes in the CRE. In Study 1, the variation in research exploring the expertise-based "inversion effect" within the CR domain will be assessed, and a paradigm will be proposed to validate predictions based upon a skilled perceptual-memory framework. Study 2 will explore several aspects of expert-novice performance differences that have received little attention in the CR domain, including (a) perceptual identification, (b) short-term memory span, and (c) "speedup" in recognition performance. Recent research on "change blindness" has provided a paradigm for exploring attentional and metacognitive effects of perception, including expert-novice differences, and Study 3 will explore such effects in the perception of own- and other-race faces. The final three studies are designed to examine the potential application of a skilled memory framework of the CRE. Given recent national events and the over-representation of minorities in the criminal justice system, of critical necessity is the development of a training program that can be administered to field investigators working in local multicultural communities or in other countries. A 2-week intervention will be tested in Study 4 involving a novel computer-based discrimination and memory task. Study 5 will attempt to extend previous research on the construction and assessment of own- and other-race photograph lineups, while Study 6 will introduce a novel paradigm for assessing the influence of lineup administration procedures with the potential for improving the diagnosticity of CR identifications.