Dissecting cross-category recognition: A methodological test of the theory of perceptual expertise
2026
Collaborators: Brandon Cohen, Joshua Correll, Balbir Singh
View paperAbstract
The Cross-Category Recognition Deficit (CRD) describes the tendency to recognize ingroup faces better than outgroup faces. Two theories explain this: perceptual expertise, which suggests that extensive experience with ingroup faces tunes the perceptual system for encoding the variation in those faces, and social-cognitive theories, which argue that our attention and motivation influence how we categorize people, particularly as ingroup vs. outgroup members. Previous studies testing the perceptual expertise account have struggled to measure sensitivity to within-category variation without revealing category group membership. To overcome this, we used morphing software to create “doppelgangers”—faces that preserve a person's unique facial variation but appear to belong to a different ethnic group. For example, distinct facial features for an East Asian face, like thicker eyebrows and higher cheeks, were transferred onto an average White face, yielding a face with an East Asian source but a White appearance. In two Prolific studies using encode/recognition tasks, we tested participants' sensitivity to both original and doppelganger faces. Across both studies, our paradigm, which methodologically deconfounds perceptual expertise from social-cognitive factors in the CRD, found no evidence for perceptual expertise. These findings may influence future research and theorizing surrounding the CRD.