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Culture shapes face perception : Comparisons of Egypt and the UK

Megreya, Ahmed M. and Bindemann, Markus (2017) Culture shapes face perception : Comparisons of Egypt and the UK. In: Bindemann, Markus and Megreya, Ahmed M., eds. Face processing : Systems, Disorders and Cultural Differences. Nova Science Publishing, Inc., New York, pp. 287-304. ISBN 978-1-5361-2398-2. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:62615)

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Abstract

The psychological literature reports a variety of cross-cultural differences in cognition, but most of these are based on comparisons of Western and Asian observers. Here, we discuss quantitative and qualitative cross-cultural differences in face processing between Western (British) and Middle-Eastern (Egyptian) observers. First, the perceptual basis of the well-established other-race effect in face processing is reviewed. Second, we discuss a qualitative cross-cultural difference in the relative importance of internal and external features for the matching of unfamiliar faces, which appears to reflect the long-term experience of Middle-Eastern observers in perceiving faces with headscarves. Third, we discuss how cultural differences in reading direction affect the well-established left visual field bias in face processing. We conclude that cultural differences between Western and Middle-Eastern observers, such as those reflecting headdress traditions and reading direction, influence the perception of faces.

Item Type: Book section
Uncontrolled keywords: face perception, culture, other-race effect, headscarf, reading direction, visual field bias
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Markus Bindemann
Date Deposited: 11 Aug 2017 09:48 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:47 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/62615 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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