Intentionally forgetting other-race faces: Costs and benefits?

Abstract

Eyewitnesses to events with multiple actors might be aware that during a subsequent investigation some actors will need to be remembered and others can be forgotten. Research on the directed-forgetting procedure suggests that when some information is cued to be forgotten, retention of other information is enhanced. In three experiments, directed-forgetting conditions were compared with control conditions to assess potential costs and benefits of forgetting other-race faces. In Experiment 1, undergraduate students (N = 148; mostly Caucasian) viewed all Black faces or all Asian faces followed by overt remember or forget cues. Participants in the directed-forgetting conditions of Experiments 2 and 3 received more covert cues instructing them to remember the faces of one race and to forget the faces of another race. In Experiment 2, undergraduate students (N = 116; all Caucasian) viewed Black and Asian faces within the context of a criminal storyline. In Experiment 3, undergraduate students (N = 94; all Caucasian) again viewed Black and Asian faces; however, the remember and forget cues were embedded in a noncriminal narrative. Although faces generally were forgotten on cue, forgetting some faces did not enhance memory for other faces. Furthermore, recognition of remember-cued faces was impaired by exposure to forget-cued faces. These findings indicate that faces can be forgotten on cue, but that doing so confers no benefit for remembering other faces. Eyewitnesses are advised that exposure to irrelevant faces reduces the likelihood that relevant faces will be remembered, even when effort is allocated to forgetting the irrelevant faces.

Intentionally remembering or forgetting own‐ and other‐race faces: Evidence from directed forgetting

“…A significant DF effect was obtained for own-race faces, revealing better memory for items cued to remember compared to items cued to forget. This finding is in line with previous work (Fitzgerald et al, 2013;Goernert et al, 2011;Metzger, 2011;Paller et al, 1999) demonstrating that memory for faces can be intentionally modulated. Importantly, the DF effect was further found to depend on the ethnicity of the faces, as it was absent for otherrace faces.…”

“…So far, only very few studies have investigated DF using faces. A DF effect is typically reported in these studies (Fitzgerald, Price, & Oriet, 2013;Goernert, Corenblum, & Otani, 2011;Metzger, 2011;Paller et al, 1999; but see Reber et al, 2002), suggesting that memory for faces is to some extent susceptible to intentional forgetting.…”

“…Of note, Fitzgerald et al (2013) investigated DF for other-race faces in Caucasian participants and observed significant effects for Asian and Black faces. However, as participants were only tested on other-race faces, this study precludes a comparison of DF effects for own-and other-race faces, and the calculation of a potential ORB.…”

Can intentional forgetting reduce the cross-race effect in memory?

“…The focus of the current study is on the racial identity of the faces, and its potential interaction with DF. Fitzgerald et al ( 2013 ) manipulated racial attributes of studied faces and found the magnitude of the DF effect to differ between Asian and Black faces. However, since only the other-race faces were presented and tested (i.e., no Caucasian faces were presented in the study, whereas the participants were Caucasian), direct comparison between DF of own- and other-race faces could not be assessed.…”