Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Advance Access originally published online on December 3, 2007
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2008 3(1):16-25; doi:10.1093/scan/nsm035
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Social contact and other-race face processing in the human brain
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
The present study investigated the influence social factors upon the neural processing of faces of other races using event-related potentials. A multi-tiered approach was used to identify face-specific stages of processing, to test for effects of race-of-face upon processing at these stages and to evaluate the impact of social contact and individuating experience upon these effects. The results showed that race-of-face has significant effects upon face processing, starting from early perceptual stages of structural encoding, and that social factors may play an important role in mediating these effects.
Keywords: face processing; structural encoding; own-race effect; N170; race of face; ERP; contact hypothesis; social contact; individuating experience
Correspondence should be addressed to Pamela Walker, c/o Anna Christina Nobre, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3UD UK. E-mail: pamela.walker{at}jesus.oxon.org.
Received June 10, 2007. Accepted October 19, 2007.