Expertise and own-race bias in face processing: an event-related potential study

Humans remember own-race faces more accurately than other-race faces (own-race bias). This effect is reduced by expertise with other-race faces. This study examined event-related potentials to own-race and other-race faces in a group of experts to other-race faces and a nonexpert control group. Both groups exhibited own-race recognition biases. Other-race faces elicited more negative and delayed N170 components, suggesting enhanced configural processing of own-race compared with other-race faces. Moreover, an increased P2 (approximately 210-240 ms) was observed for own-race faces. At right occipitotemporal regions of the experts only this P2 effect was found to be absent. These findings demonstrate an influence of early, presumably presemantic processes on the own-race bias, which are mediated by perceptual expertise with other-race faces.