Facial-based ethnic recognition: insights from two closely related by ethnically distinct groups
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Date
2009
Authors
Coetzee, Vinet
Greeff, Jaco M.
Barrett, Louise
Henzi, Peter
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Abstract
Previous studies on facial recognition have considered widely
separated populations, both geographically and culturally, making
it hard to disentangle effects of familiarity with an ability to identify
ethnic groups per se.We used data from a highly intermixed population
of African peoples from South Africa to test whether individuals
from nine different ethnic groups could correctly differentiate between facial images of two of these, the Tswana and Pedi. Individuals
could not assign ethnicity better than expected by chance, and
there was no significant difference between genders in accuracy of
assignment. Interestingly, we observed a trend that individuals of
mixed ethnic origin were better at assigning ethnicity to Pedi and
Tswanas, than individuals from less mixed backgrounds. This
result supports the hypothesis that ethnic recognition is based on
the visual expertise gained with exposure to different ethnic
groups.
Description
Sherpa Romeo blue journal; open access
Keywords
Faces , Ethnicity , Facial recognition , Exposure , Cross-cultural studies
Citation
Coetzee, V., Greeff, J.M., Barrett, L., & Henzi, S.P. (2009). Facial-based ethnic recognition: insights from two closely related by ethnically distinct groups. South African Journal of Science, 106, 464-466.