The nature of face expertise in visual working memory: Observations from the other race effect

Several recent visual working memory studies have suggested that face expertise is reflected in a greater capacity for face stimuli, others would suggest that the locus of face expertise can be identified in the fidelity/quality of the facial representation. This study investigated face memory by manipulating expertise, both between object categories (faces, shaded cubes), and within face category (Chinese, Western Caucasian). The research design was a quasi-experimental 3 factor study, looking at the effects associated with participant ethnicity, face stimulus ethnicity. When both participant and face ethnicity factors were collapsed, the results indicated that an advantage of faces over shaded cubes was present only in the within-category change condition. The full factorial analysis revealed an interaction between participant ethnicity and face ethnicity, indicating an advantage for own race face, in both within and between category conditions. The results are considered within current conceptualisations of face representation within visual work memory.