Own-race and other-race face recognition problems without visual expertise problems in dyslexic readers.

Own-race and other-race face recognition problems without visual expertise problems in dyslexic readers. Vision Res. 2019 Mar 01;: Authors: Sigurdardottir HM, Hjartarson KH, Gudmundsson GL, Kristjánsson Á Abstract Both intact and deficient neural processing of faces has been found in dyslexic readers. Similarly, behavioral studies have shown both normal and abnormal face processing in developmental dyslexia. We tested whether dyslexic adults are impaired in tests of own-race and other-race face recognition. As both face and word recognition rely considerably on visual expertise, we wished to investigate whether face recognition problems of dyslexic readers might stem from difficulties with experience-driven expert visual processing. We utilized the finding that people tend to be worse at discriminating other-race faces compared to own-race faces, the so-called other-race effect, thought to reflect greater experience with own-race faces. If visual expertise is compromised in dyslexic readers, so that their visual system is not effectively shaped by experience, then they might show a diminished other-race effect. Matched dyslexic and typical readers completed two tests of own- and other-race face recognition. The results show that dyslexic readers have problems with recognizing faces, and these difficulties are not fully accounted for by general problems with attention or memory. However, recognition is compromised for both own- and ...
Source: Vision Research - Category: Opthalmology Authors: Tags: Vision Res Source Type: research