The left side of the face may be fixated on more often than the right side: visual lateralization in recognizing own- and other-race faces

Abstract

Studies have found that Westerners recognize own-race faces with left visual lateralization (from the viewer’s perspective), but whether subjects recognize own- and other-race faces with similar degrees of left visual lateralization is unclear. In the present study, two experiments were conducted to clarify this issue. In Experiment 1, faces were divided into left and right sides to ascertain whether Chinese subjects scanned the left side of Chinese and Western faces more often than the right side. In Experiment 2, facial features were divided into six areas of interest along the midline of the face (specifically, the left and right eyes, sides of the nose, and sides of the mouth) to determine whether Chinese subjects scanned facial features on the left side of Chinese and Western faces more often than on the right side. The results of Experiment 1 showed that the fixation counts and scanning duration for the left side of the face were greater than those for the right side of the face, with no significant effect from the race of the face. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the fixation counts and scanning duration of the left eye and left side of the mouth were greater than those of the right eye and right side of the mouth, respectively, whereas no significant effect was found between the left and right sides of the nose for either Chinese or Western faces. The results indicate that Chinese subjects recognize own- and other-race faces with similar left visual lateralization, which is mainly reflected in scanning of the eyes and mouth.