Race, arousal, attention, exposure, and delay - An examination of factors moderating face recognition

A large percentage of people recently exonerated by DNA evidence were imprisoned on the basis of faulty eyewitness identification. Many of these cases involved victims and suspects of different races. Two studies examined the recognition of Hispanic and Black target faces by Hispanic participants under nonoptimal viewing conditions. When viewing time decreased, recognition performance for same- and other-race faces systematically shifted downward. Recognition accuracy for faces of both races decreased under conditions of high negative arousal and attention load; however. recognition of same-race faces was differentially affected by attention distractors. Face recognition accuracy was not affected by a delay between initial presentation of the faces and the face recognition test. An understanding of how recognition of other-race persons differs from that of same-race persons can assist by reducing misidentifications and ensuring that the perpetrator rather than an innocent person is imprisoned.