The Role of Spatial Frequency Information in Face Classification by Race

• Published in: Frontiers in Psychology
• Main Authors: Zhang, Guoping, Wang, Zeyao, Wu, Jie, Zhao, Lun
• Other Authors: Zhang, GP (reprint author), Nankai Univ, China Acad Corp Governance, Tianjin, Peoples R China.; Zhang, GP (reprint author), Nankai Univ, Sch Business, Tianjin, Peoples R China.; Zhang, GP (reprint author), Peking Univ, Ctr Brain & Cognit Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China.; Zhang, GP (reprint author), Peking Univ, Dept Psychol, Beijing, Peoples R China.; Zhao, L (reprint author), Beijing Yiran Sunny Technol Co Ltd, Inst Brain Res, Beijing, Peoples R China., Nankai Univ, China Acad Corp Governance, Tianjin, Peoples R China., Nankai Univ, Sch Business, Tianjin, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Ctr Brain & Cognit Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Dept Psychol, Beijing, Peoples R China., Michigan State Univ, Eli Broad Coll Business, E Lansing, MI 48824 USA., Tianjin Normal Univ, Inst Psychol & Behav, Beijing, Peoples R China., Beijing Yiran Sunny Technol Co Ltd, Inst Brain Res, Beijing, Peoples R China., Zhang, GP (reprint author), Nankai Univ, Sch Business, Tianjin, Peoples R China., Zhang, GP (reprint author), Peking Univ, Ctr Brain & Cognit Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China., Zhang, GP (reprint author), Peking Univ, Dept Psychol, Beijing, Peoples R China., Zhao, L (reprint author), Beijing Yiran Sunny Technol Co Ltd, Inst Brain Res, Beijing, Peoples R China.
• Format: Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2017
• Subjects: faces' race; face classification; other-race advantage; spatial frequency; OWN-RACE; RECOGNITION; CATEGORIZATION; ADVANTAGE; COMPONENT; CONTACT; Orca
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/469023; https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01152

It was found that face classification by race is more quickly for other-race than own-race faces (other-race classification advantage, ORCA). Controlling the spatial frequencies of face images, the current study investigated the perceptual processing differences based on spatial frequencies between own-race and other-race faces that might account for the ORCA. Regardless of the races of the observers, the own-race faces were classified faster and more accurately for broad-band faces than for both lower and higher spatial frequency (SF) faces, whereas, although other-race faces were classified less accurately for higher SF than for either broad-band or lower SF faces, there was no difference between broad-band and lower SF conditions of other-race faces. Although it was not evident for higher SF condition, the ORCA was more evident for lower SF than that for broad-band faces. The present data indicate that global/configural information is needed for subordinate race categorization of faces and that an important source of ORCA is application of global/configural computations by default while categorizing an own-race face but not while categorizing an other-race face. Natural Science Foundation of China [71172216]; Wertheim Fellow Program for Harvard University; NBER [CSC 201208120037] SSCI ARTICLE 8