The FIRE Lab, directed by Professor Balbir Singh, focuses on the intersection of face perception, identity, race, and ethnicity. We explore how individuals recognize and interpret faces across racial and ethnic groups, and how social experiences shape these processes.

Our current areas of interest include:

• The Cross-Category Recognition Deficit

• How identity centrality might affect a person’s perception of ingroup and outgroup members across race and gender

• The impact of cross-race contact on face recognition accuracy.

• How expectancy (the likelihood of future interactions) and anticipation influence recognition.

• Broader questions surrounding identity, diversity, and perception in social psychology.