Assessing the influence of recollection and familiarity in memory for own- vs. other-race faces

Jessica L. Marcon, University of Texas at El Paso
Kyle J. Susa, University of Texas at El Paso
Christian A. Meissner, University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

The current research examined the contributions of recollection vs. familiarity in memory for own- and other-race faces. Experiment 1 used a repetition lag paradigm (Jennings & Jacoby, 1997) to demonstrate the typical cross-race effect with respect to discrimination accuracy and response bias. Participants were also more likely to commit the ‘repetition error’ by falsely recognizing repeated other-race faces. Experiment 2 used process-dissociation equations to estimate differences in recollection and familiarity. As predicted, results showed a greater reliance on recollection-based processing for own-race faces. The theoretical and practical implications of these finding are discussed.