Thirty years of investigating the own-race bias in memory for faces: A meta-analytic review

The current article reviews the own-race bias (ORB) phenomenon in memory for human faces, the finding that own-race faces are better remembered when compared with memory for faces of another, less familiar race. Data were analyzed from 39 research articles, involving 91 independent samples and nearly 5,000 participants. Measures of hit and false alarm rates, and aggregate measures of discriminatio n accuracy and response criterion were examined, including an analysis of 8 study moderators. Several theoretical relationships were also assessed (i.e., the influence of racial attitudes and interracial contact). Overall, results indicated a "mirror effect" pattern in which own-race faces yielded a higher proportion of hits and a lower proportion of false alarms compared with other-race faces. Consistent with this effect, a significant ORB was also found in aggregate measures of discriminatio n accuracy and response criterion. The influence of perceptual learning and differentiation processes in the ORB are discussed, in addition to the practical implications of this phenomenon. She based her identification on Smith's eyes, which she said were greenish-blue and upon his hands which she said were "light and slender" like the holdup man's. Mrs. McCormick testified that Smith's eyes were "different from most colored people ... bright and piercing." Smith's defense attorneys then attempted to parry the state's first thrust in the trial. Mrs. McCormick was handed a picture of a man she couldn't identify. It was a picture of David Charles, with shorter hair, taken while he was in Vietnam. Assistant defense attorney Kitchen asked Mrs. McCormick if she had ever made the statement that all Black people look alike. "Yes, I made that statement," Mrs. McCormick said, "and they do to a certain extent, but there's a difference here" (Lickson, 1974, p. 66). In 1971, five Black men, who became known as the "Quincy Five," were wrongfully indicted for the murder of Khomas Revels during a robbery in Tallahassee, Florida. Although no forensic evidence obtained from the crime scene was ever linked to the men, five White eyewitnesses positively identified them as among the perpetrators. In each of three trials the state argued, "What better evidence can there be than, 'I saw him,' from unprejudiced witnesses? This has been used since time immemorial. This is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Five eyewitnesses!" (Lickson, 1974, p. 87). Despite the lack of physical evidence against these men, two of the defendants, Dave Roby Keaton and Johnny Frederick, were found guilty on the basis of eyewitness testimony and coerced confessions obtained by investigators . During the third trial involving David