Recognition of unfamiliar faces relies heavily on external features. However, most studies on own-race bias (ORB) have focused on the recognition of internal features, and relatively little is known about to what extent external features affect the ORB. Here, in a yes/no face recognition task, the ORB was pronounced across ethnic groups in a multi-ethnic Asian population (Malaysian-Malay, Malaysian-Chinese, Malaysian-Indian, and Caucasian) when faces were presented with only internal features (Experiment 1), but this effect disappeared when faces were presented with external features (Experiment 2). Further, the absence of external features was disruptive to recognition of other-race faces but not own-race faces. This suggests that different processing mechanisms may be involved for own- and other-race faces, with internal features of own-race faces being processed more efficiently while external features dominate representations of other-race faces.

Biography I did a BSc in Physics at the University of Sussex followed by PhD in Physics at University of Leicester. A radical change in subject led to post-docs in visual perception at University of Reading, University of Edinburgh, Institute of Ophthalmology in London, McGill University and NTT Basic Research Labs in Japan. Then I was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Optometry at the University of Bradford. Whilst at Bradford I was involved in setting up the new Psychology course, and simultaneously did a part-time BSc in Psychology with the Open University. Since 2014 I have been in the School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, becoming Head of School shortly after I arrived.

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