Dans cet article, nous nous attachons à explorer les déterminants de l’other race effect (ORE). Valentine, 1991Valentine T. A unified account of the effects of distinctiveness, inversion, and race in face recognition The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 1991 ;  43A (2) : 161-204

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti a proposé un modèle de codage dans lequel chaque visage est encodé en fonction de sa déviation par rapport à une norme qui varie selon l’environnement des individus. Différents travaux chez les adultes montrent qu’en général les résultats soutiennent les prédictions issues du modèle. Nous nous intéressons également au développement de l’ORE au cours de l’enfance. Les travaux de Pascalis et de Schonen, 1994Pascalis O., de Schonen S. Recognition memory in 3-4-day-old human infants NeuroReport 1994 ;  5 : 1721-1724 [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti et de Pascalis et al., 1995Pascalis O., de Schonen S., Morton J., Deruelle C., Fabre-Grenet M. Mothers’ face recognition by neonates - a replication and extension Infant Behavior and Development 1995 ;  18 : 79-85 [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti, Pascalis et al., 1998Pascalis O., de Haan M., Nelson C.A., de Schonen S. Long term recognition assessed by visual paired comparison in 3- and 6-month-old infants Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 1998 ;  24 : 249-260 [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti montrent que les nourrissons, de la naissance à l’âge de trois mois, sont capables de reconnaître des visages familiers. Par ailleurs, on note que des difficultés à reconnaître des visages peu fréquents dans l’environnement existent dès la première année.

We are reviewing the recent findings on the Other Race Effect (ORE), which is the difficulty to recognize faces from other race compared to own race faces. Several hypotheses were proposed: negative attitude (Brigham et Malpass, 1985Brigham J.C., Malpass R.S. The role of experience and contact in the recognition of faces of own- and other-race persons Journal of Social Issues 1985 ;  41 : 415-424 [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti), attentional mechanisms (Chance et Goldstein, 1981Chance J.E., Goldstein A.G. Depth of processing in response to own- and other-race faces Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1981 ;  7 (3) : 475-480 [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti), and the contact hypothesis (Brigham et al., 1982Brigham J.C., Maass A., Snyder L.D., Spaulding K. Accuracy of eyewitness identifications in a field setting Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1982 ;  42 (4) : 673-681 [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti) which postulates that the ORE is due to a lack of experience with other race’s faces. The contact hypothesis being, of course, modulated by attention and attitude. Valentine (Valentine, 1991Valentine T. A unified account of the effects of distinctiveness, inversion, and race in face recognition The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 1991 ;  43A (2) : 161-204

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti ; Valentine et Endo, 1992Valentine T., Endo M. Towards an exemplar model of face processing - the effects of race and distinctiveness Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A - Human Experimental Psychology 1992 ;  44 : 671-703

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti) proposes a norm-based coding model in which faces are encoded as vectors according to their deviation from a prototypical average. The resulting dimensions will differ according to the input received with certain salient, individuating dimensions carrying more “weight” than others. Predominant exposure to faces of a specific species, gender, or race early in life will cause the dimensions of one’s prototype to become “tuned” towards such faces. The evidence presented support Valentine’s model but we are showing that the quality of the contact is crucial in the experience. We are arguing that a developmental approach is necessary to better understand the ORE. Infants are able to process and recognize faces from an early age and several recent studies have found that the ORE can be observed from 9–10 months of age. Experimental results indicate that 6- to 9-months of age represents an important time of transition in the face processing system. If a certain type of face (other races) is not experienced prior to this period, then we appear to lose our ability to discriminate between individual faces within those groups.