Calendar of events

Title: From Perception to Motivation: A Unified Model of Cross-Race Face Recognition

Abstract: As globalization increases interethnic contact, the ability to accurately recognize other-race faces becomes essential for reducing bias and fostering mutual understanding. Yet, people often show poorer recognition for faces of different races—a phenomenon known as the other-race effect. What mechanisms underlie this effect, and how can we improve cross-race face recognition?

In this talk, I will present a series of studies that integrate behavioral experiments, ERP recordings, structural equation modeling, word2vec analysis, and representational similarity analysis. By examining attentional, semantic, and motivational processes, we critically evaluate traditional perceptual experience and individuation-vs-categorization theories of the other-race effect. Building on these findings, I will propose a new theoretical framework that unifies perceptual and motivational mechanisms underlying cross-race face recognition.

Bio:

Professor Guomei Zhou is Professor of Psychology at Sun Yat-sen University. She earned her B.Sc. from Beijing Normal University, her D.Sc. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and completed post-doctoral work at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Zhou’s research bridges cognitive and social psychology by examining how we process static, dynamic, or group faces, integrating topics such as facial attractiveness, face-recognition memory, trait inferences from faces, mate choice, economic decision-making, and cultural differences.

My ORCID page:

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9377-9663

My ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Guomei-Zhou?ev=prf_overview