Visual attention to own‐ versus other‐race faces: Perspectives from learning mechanisms and task demands

Abstract

Multiple factors have been proposed to contribute to the other-race effect in face recognition, including perceptual expertise and social-cognitive accounts. Here, we propose to understand the effect and its contributing factors from the perspectives of learning mechanisms that involve joint learning of visual attention strategies and internal representations for faces, which can be modulated by quality of contact with other-race individuals including emotional and motivational factors. Computational simulations of this process will enhance our understanding of interactions among factors and help resolve inconsistent results in the literature. In particular, since learning is driven by task demands, visual attention effects observed in different face-processing tasks, such as passive viewing or recognition, are likely to be task specific (although may be associated) and should be examined and compared separately. When examining visual attention strategies, the use of more data-driven and comprehensive eye movement measures, taking both spatial-temporal pattern and consistency of eye movements into account, can lead to novel discoveries in other-race face processing. The proposed framework and analysis methods may be applied to other tasks of real-life significance such as face emotion recognition, further enhancing our understanding of the relationship between learning and visual cognition.

Understanding Human Cognition Through Computational Modeling

“…In psychological research, EMHMM has enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms underlying individual difference in attention strategy. For example, in face recognition, we discovered nose-focused and eyes-focused eye movement patterns across cultures ; see also Hsiao & Chan, 2023a); the eyes-focused pattern is associated with better performance, whereas the nose-focused pattern is associated with cognitive decline in older adults (Chan et al, 2018). Individuals have person-specific and task-specific eye movement patterns for face processing (Kanan, Bseiso, Ray, Hsiao, & Cottrell, 2015), which are unaffected by real-time mood changes .…”

“…In humans, eye movement during a cognitive task has been commonly used as a direct measure of human attention strategy, and can be conceptualized as human predictions about the locations of diagnostic information for the task (Henderson, 2017). It is task-driven and can differ significantly when the task demand changes (e.g., Kanan et al, 2015;Hsiao & Chan, 2023a). Findings from my previous work and others' have consistently shown substantial individual differences in eye movements during cognitive tasks (e.g., Peterson & Eckstein, 2013), which are typically associated with differences in task performance and cognitive abilities.…”