Visual search for a socially defined feature: What causes the search asymmetry favoring cross-race faces?

Levin, Daniel T.; Angelone, Bonnie L. · 2001 · Crossref

DOI: 10.3758/bf03194409

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Summary

This study investigates the mechanisms underlying a visual search asymmetry where white observers locate cross-race (black) faces among same-race (white) distractors more quickly than the reverse. Building on prior findings that cross-race faces are coded as "feature-positive" deviations from a same-race norm, the authors test whether manipulating the salience of race-specifying features affects search efficiency. The research aims to determine if this asymmetry stems from the enhanced salience of the target or the difficulty of rejecting distractors. The researchers conducted three experiments using visual search tasks with undergraduate subjects. Stimuli included average black and white faces, which were digitally distorted to create caricatures (enhancing racial differences) or prototypical distortions (reducing racial differences). In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects searched for target faces among distractors varying in distortion type. Experiment 1 used a between-subjects design for caricatures, while Experiment 2 employed a within-subjects design comparing undistorted, caricatured, and prototypical distractors. Experiment 3 examined the effect of mixing trial types on the asymmetry. Search slopes (reaction time per item) served as the primary metric for search efficiency. The results demonstrated that distorting cross-race distractors significantly influenced search slopes, whereas distorting same-race distractors had no effect. Specifically, caricaturing black distractors sped up the search for white targets, suggesting that enhancing racial features made distractors easier to reject. Conversely, prototypical distortion of black distractors slowed the search for white targets, indicating that reducing racial distinctiveness increased the difficulty of distractor rejection. Distortions applied to the target faces themselves did not significantly affect search slopes. Furthermore, Experiment 3 revealed that mixing trials with different distractor types eliminated the typical search asymmetry favoring cross-race faces, implying that the asymmetry relies on the observer’s ability to maintain a consistent perceptual criterion. These findings indicate that the visual search asymmetry favoring cross-race faces is driven primarily by the ease of rejecting distractors rather than the inherent salience of the target. The data support a model where cross-race faces are processed as feature-positive stimuli, making them distinct and easier to reject when they serve as distractors. The elimination of the asymmetry under mixed-trial conditions suggests that the effect depends on stable contextual processing rather than fixed perceptual properties. This work highlights how social cognition influences visual processing, demonstrating that complex, socially defined features can govern visual search dynamics similarly to primitive visual features.

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• visual search