The objective of the project is to determine the perceptual and memory processes and eye movement differences which mediate performance with own and other-race faces, and how these are influenced by increased interracial contact. The project involves two experiments which are conducted in the UK and Japan. Experiment 1 focuses on memory processes while Experiment 2 focuses on perceptual processes underlying cross-racial recognition. Experiment 1 investigates individuals' ability to recognise faces of one's own race and those of another race and their ability to describe these faces from memory (ie, recall) using a recognition memory paradigm where individuals learn a set of faces, and subsequently are asked to recognise and recall the faces from the same number of distractor faces that had not been shown before. Eye movement recording takes place during learning and recognition/recall. Experiment 2 examines perceptual learning of own and other-race faces using a Thatcherised face paradigm (ie, a mouth and eyes are rotated relative to the rest of the face). Individuals are shown a range of Thatcherised faces in various conditions and are asked to match whether the two concurrently presented faces are the same or different. Eye movements are recorded during the matching task.

Undergraduate students from University of Hokkaido and University of Teesside participated in the study for a small payment, involing a total of 196 participants.