Many studies have shown that people remember faces of their own race better
than faces of other races. We investigated the neural substrates of same-r
ace memory superiority using functional MRI (fMRI). European-American (EA)
and African-American (AA) males underwent fMRI while they viewed photograph
s of AA males, EA males and objects under intentional encoding conditions.
Recognition memory was superior for same-race versus other-race faces. Indi
vidually defined areas in the fusiform region that responded preferentially
to faces had greater response to same-race versus other-race faces. Across
both groups, memory differences between same-race and other-race faces cor
related with activation in left fusiform cortex and right parahippocampal a
nd hippocampal areas. These results suggest that differential activation in
fusiform regions contributes to same-race memory superiority.