The Headscarf Effect Revisited: Further Evidence for a Culture-Based Internal Face Processing Advantage

Abstract

Encoding the internal features of unfamiliar faces poses a perceptual challenge that occasionally results in face recognition errors. Extensive experience with faces framed by a headscarf may, however, enhance perceivers' ability to process internal facial information. To examine this claim empirically, participants in the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America completed a standard part-whole face recognition task. Accuracy on the task was examined using a 2 (perceiver culture: Emirati vs American) × 2 (face race: Arab vs white) × 2 (probe type: part vs whole) × 3 (probe feature: eyes vs nose vs mouth) mixed-measures analysis of variance. As predicted, Emiratis outperformed Americans on the administered task. Although their recognition advantage occurred regardless of probe type, it was most pronounced for Arab faces and for trials that captured the processing of nose or mouth information. The findings demonstrate that culture-based experiences hone perceivers' face processing skills.

Face masks impair basic emotion recognition: Group effects and individual variability (Accepted for Publication in Social Psychology)

“…Parallel lines of work in the social domain examining how emotion recognition may be affected by cultural face coverings, such as a niqab (Fischer et al 2012;Kret and de Gelder, 2012;Kret & Fischer, 2018;Wang et al 2015;Hareli et al, 2013), report similar results. There was a reduction in the accuracy of emotion perception for participants wearing a niqab for happiness but no impact for recognizing anger, which depends on perceiving upper parts of the face (i.e., the eyes).…”

Face masks reduce emotion-recognition accuracy and perceived closeness

“…We also assessed participants' preoccupation with COVID-19 and their exposure to face masks. To this end, we developed four face-valid items to measure preoccupation with COVID-19 and adapted items by Wang and colleagues [52] to measure exposure to face masks. As these scales were not relevant for the analyses, we do not discuss them further.…”

“…We obtained permission to retrieve and adapt these photographs from the FACES database [51]. As all photographs in the databank depict native German community members, FACES stimuli were particularly suited for the purpose of the present investigation [52]. The stimuli used in the critical trials systematically differed in age (young, middle-aged, old), gender (female, male), and expressed emotion (neutral, happy, fearful, angry, sad, disgusted).…”

The Own-Race Bias for Face Recognition in a Multiracial Society

“…Previous studies found that the recognition and matching of unfamiliar faces rely heavily on external features (Ellis et al, 1979;Young et al, 1985;O'Donnell and Bruce, 2001), whereas familiar faces can be easily recognized and discriminated one from another based on internal features (Ellis et al, 1979;Henderson et al, 2005;Sporer and Horry, 2011; but see Toseeb et al, 2014;Toseeb et al, 2012). Some authors have argued that perceptual expertise is required to successfully encode internal face features (Megreya and Bindemann, 2009;Megreya et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2015), with developmental studies finding that adult-like processing of internal features is not achieved until between 10 and 15 years of age (Campbell et al, 1999;Want et al, 2003; but see Bonner et al, 2004).…”