(STUDY FINDS) — RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Phrases like “You all look the same to me” or “I can’t tell any of them apart” are commonly associated with racial stereotyping and prejudice. Yet as it turns out, a new study finds that we really are hard-wired to have a harder time distinguishing the facial characteristics of individuals from a different race than our own.
Commonly referred to as the “other-race” or “cross-race” effect, for centuries people have complained of not being to tell the members of racial groups separate from their own apart. In modern times, this notion is largely written off as a byproduct of a much more bigoted and racist time in human history. However, researchers from the University of California, Riverside say our brains are inherently inclined to either process, or not process, facial characteristics based on race.
According to the research team, this sub-conscious process occurs instantaneously as our eyes focus on a face. Throughout the course of the study, researchers aimed to answer one central question: When we observe an individual from another racial group, are their facial features blurred in our mind’s eye?
